Chelsea at Juventus: Three lessons learnt in Champions League defeat

Chelsea has now lost for a second time in a row and it is yet another 1-0 defeat. Last time it was Manchester City who got the better of Thomas Tuchel’s men, this time it was Juventus, who just managed to edge out the men in blue. It was by no means a lacklustre match and the Blues showed a lot of heart throughout the contest. A few big chances were missed on both sides and Chelsea will be the side that regrets missing those opportunities the most. It was a tight formation by the Turin side and the Blues were having a tough time getting through the middle.

Chelsea was defeated for a second time in as many games at Juventus

Although Chelsea had a lot of possession throughout the game, Juventus had the better chances to score. The ball that fell for Federico Bernardeschi should really have ended up in the back of the net for the hosts in the second half. Even Romelu Lukaku missed a wonderful chance at the other end of the pitch. Chelsea played with a purpose on Wednesday. The Blues wanted to dominate the Italian side and keep pressing until it broke down. This performance was quite similar to the showing against Atletico Madrid last season. In the 1-0 win over the Madrid side, Diego Simeone’s men kept playing in a compact defensive shape and it took a moment of brilliance by Olivier Giroud to break the tie.

However, the moment of brilliance was missing in this game. The Italian giants played against the Blues the same way the Blues played against Man City last week. Playing defensively and threatening the other team with a counter was Massimiliano Allegri’s main tactic—it worked perfectly for the hosts. The combination of Matthijs de Ligt and Leonardo Bonucci was good enough to keep the Chelsea attackers tame. On the other side, a moment of brilliance from Federico Chiesa was enough to seal the match.

Here are three things we learnt from Chelsea’s performance at Juventus:

1. Chelsea played with real intent

Chelsea’s loss against the Citizens last week was infuriating because of the lack of chances created by Thomas Tuchel’s men. They were content with sitting back and attacking on the counter, but the lack of attacking midfielders meant that all the counters were broken down immediately. This time, however, Tuchel decided to start Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech to make sure that the pressure is applied by the Blues and not Juventus. This worked out quite well and they were very dominant in the middle of the park. Yes, the ball was lost a few times, but Chelsea always looked like the team in control.

The west London side played with the intention of winning. It knew that it had to score a goal in order to get the three points and it went after the goal for over 90 minutes. The Blues simply lacked the clinical finish that they needed in a match of such calibre. In a match where the opposition was ready to sit back and defend from the opening whistle, the attackers needed to convert their chances because they would not get many opportunities throughout the game.

Chelsea had 10 more shots than the Old Lady, yet, both sides had only one shot on target. This is a very disappointing statistic for the Blues’ forwards and they will need to work on their ability to create more clear cut chances. Lukaku was left pretty isolated in the first half as the visitors could not provide him with any service. When the Belgian did get chances in the second half, he squandered them. Even Havertz’s last-minute header flew comfortably over the bar. Meanwhile, a single shot on target from Chiesa was enough to put Juve in the lead.

Lady luck was definitely not with Chelsea on Wednesday evening.