Chelsea announce themselves Champions League title contenders and smother Atletico Madrid with ease
Atletico #Atletico
Antonio Rudiger’s shackling of Luis Suarez set the tone for Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid
LONDON — Hakim Ziyech’s first half goal must have landed with a familiar thud for Diego Simeone. How often had he seen his team do much the same: soak up pressure, draw their opponent up the pitch and then, in the blink of an eye, rifle to the other end of the pitch to punish their opponents.
Chelsea had just meted out on Atletico Madrid what the Spaniards have been perfecting for nine years under their current manager. Thomas Tuchel seems to have built a decent approximation of that approach in a few months, albeit one that uses possession as a weapon, enough to take his side to a commanding 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge. It’s a win that will serve as a shot across the bows to the other seven teams left in this contest. Eliminating a serial contender like Atleti in such comprehensive fashion ought to mark this team out as serious contenders.
Whether defense does indeed win championships rather depends on the moment but what Chelsea showed tonight is that they are sufficiently robust at the back to not give away many goals to all but the very best attacks… and even they will have to work exceedingly hard for them. Couple that with a frontline that, in whatever form Tuchel deploys it, has the individual quality to punish even half mistakes and there is a team here that no-one will relish drawing in Friday’s quarterfinal draw.
This was no carbon copy of the first leg. Atletico did not play not to concede, how could they after Olivier Giroud’s wonder goal in Bucharest put the Blues in the ascendancy? But, equally, the experience of watching the game was not all that different. This was pulverizing football, a reminder that teams capable of executing at both ends of the pitch usually nullify each other more effectively than they light up their stage.
A raucous Stamford Bridge with a packed away end might have brought more flavor to this contest, which ultimately petered out after Ziyech finished off a crushing counterattack in the 34th minute. But, as is, there was something grimly appropriate about Chelsea’s ability to lock down every corridor at Stamford Bridge. Timo Werner typified the new-found ability to shut out opponents that Tuchel has imbued in this side, blocking Kieran Trippier’s cross before bursting forward to join Kai Havertz on a counter that would end with him rolling the ball across goal to an unmarked team-mate.
It helps when you have an attack of such pace and technical excellence that all they need is a bit of space in behind to score but this was not a game defined by Ziyech, but rather by Antonio Rudiger, Kurt Zouma and in particular N’Golo Kante, much as Andreas Christensen and Mason Mount had been defensive stars in the first leg.
As Ziyech noted, this was really not that much of a challenge for Chelsea: “There were some difficult moments in the game but for most of the time we had it under control.
“It was a bit like seeing how the game would go for 10 minutes and after that we had control. We did well. They didn’t create a lot. We can be happy about the performance.”
Happy is quite the understatement. This tie was a masterclass in attrition from Chelsea. Across 180 minutes of football against La Liga’s leading lights they allowed shots worth a combined 1.37 expected goals (over a third of which came from Thomas Lemar’s near goal-line miss early in the first leg) while creating 2.92 of their own expected goals, scoring three of them.
Chelsea were defense-oriented and such an approach can require a scintilla of luck. That is what Cesar Azpilicueta had when he miscued a back pass and tugged down Yannick Carrasco, who seemed certain to beat Edouard Mendy to the ball. It should have been a penalty; had Atletico scored it moments before Ziyech struck at the other end the complexion of the tie would have radically altered.
But if that was a moment when fortune favored them, as did Stefan Savic’s red card for an innocuous shove on Rudiger, there were plenty of other moments that proved this is a team of serious defensive nous, remarkable considering less than two months ago under Frank Lampard they seemed unable to repel a strong breeze.
Zouma could find himself one-on-one with Luis Suarez and whip the ball off one of the great strikers of his age, though on tonight’s evidence that era may soon be ending. Rudiger would doubtless be on hand to offer him a robust shove out of the door.
Then there was Kante, as thrilling tonight as he was when he was a Premier League new born in a Leicester shirt. He recovered possession for Chelsea once every seven minutes. He led his side in interceptions and in chances created, a reminder that on this form he is so much more than a destroyer. His desire to cover every blade of grass and then go over it again for luck is invigorating for anyone watching on.
There is a spine to this Chelsea side and depth aplenty to supplement it. The absence of the excellent Andreas Christensen looked to be a problem for Tuchel, instead Zouma stepped in with aplomb. Eventually he will have Thiago Silva in the mix as well. The same is true in midfield where the suspended Jorginho can serve as an alternate for the steadying hand of Mateo Kovacic. Similarly Havertz did a more than satisfactory impression tribute to Mason Mount with strength and invention to go with his pressing.
It was all too much for Atletico, who seemed to conclude early on that it was best to conserve energy for the Spanish title race.
As they came to terms with their looming defeat there was no fight in Simeone or Madrid, no raging their way back into this contest with their customary blend of quality and remorseless intensity. Instead it was a rather feeble farewell to European competition. This most fiery of teams had had a bucket of ice cold water hurled over them. The rest of Europe cannot have helped but to take notice.