The Blues continue their good game under manager Thomas Tuchel.

The Blues continue their good game under manager Thomas Tuchel.
A delighted Chelsea side

Diego Simeone’s team was beaten 1-0 by a strong Chelsea side after its reigns were passed on from Frank Lampard. This was Chelsea’s 8th consecutive unbeaten game in all competitions under the new manager.

The formation adopted by Simeone was a very defensive one. Following the 6-3-1 formation, some called Atleti, the Spanish Burnley. The coach said “Both sides worked really hard. There were really few opportunities to score and they took theirs, but apart from that, it was really even. We were solid defensively, we were good in transition, we had the odd chance. The second half was very even, neither keeper really made a save.”

Man of the Match

Frenchman with the Spectacular

Atleti did not have a single shot on target in the whole 90 minutes. And despite their seemingly impregnable formation Chelsea’s striker Olivier Giroud was able to put one past the net with his spectacular overhead kick, which also made him ‘man of the match‘. The goal came in the 68th minute which was initially ruled offside but upon VAR check was given in Chelsea’s favour. The Frenchman was in an offside position but the video assistant referee revealed the ball had bounced off Atletico defender Mario Hermoso.

FS Video

Albeit the match was played on neutral grounds it will give Chelsea a major advantage in the second leg when they host Atletico at Stamford Bridge. Thomas Tuchel was pleased with his side as he acclaimed “Fantastic result, fantastic goal. Well deserved.”
“We knew they were ready to suffer with eight people in the box. The intention was to keep the intensity high. This is what we did very good. We never let them breathe or come out for counter-attacks. We have a big reward with this result.
“This is one of the toughest challenges to open a defence like Atletico.” said he.

It will be a scintillating second leg as Atletico Madrid look to make a comeback. Not to forget RB Leipzig is the only team apart from a side having Cristiano Ronaldo to knock Diego Simeone out of this competition.

Also read: Olivier Giroud stresses that Chelsea arrived in Bucharest with the aim to win