Chelsea Beat Porto To Make Case For Champions League Last Four
Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea beat their Portuguese counterparts 2 – 0 in Seville to take a huge advantage into the second leg encounter.
The match which was played in Spain due to Covid-19 restrictions now sees the visitors travel back to London with one leg in the last four of the competition.
Chelsea started on the front foot making dangerous incursions into their opponents half. However, the Portuguese side playing without their leading marksmen in Taremi and Oliveira were difficult to break. They played something of a six man defense that made it difficult for Chelsea to penetrate their lines.
That was however not to be forever as Mason Mount had other ideas. The Englishman turned Mbemba before receiving a pass from Italian playmaker Jorginho. He then aimed his first-time strike towards the bottom left corner to give his side the lead in 32 minutes.
Porto held on to end the first half trailing by the lone goal. They emerged from the tunnel with Chelsea still controlling the game and being the brighter of the two sides.
As Chelsea searched to cushion their lead, Tuchel threw in Christian Pulisic for Timo Werner and Olivier Giroud for Kai Havertz. That change did not instantly make the necessary impact but showed the Blues intent. Ngolo Kante then joined in place of goal scorer Mason Mount and Thiago Silva on for Reece James with 10 minutes to play.
The breakthrough then came shortly after and it was another England man but this time a left back. Ben Chilwell nipped in from close range to open his Champions League goal account and give Chelsea a two goal lead.
Emerson Palmieri who came on from the bench to score the second goal in less than a minute against Atletico Madrid came on for Mateo Kovacic in added time. He however could not produce that rare magic this time around as Chelsea closed the match 2 – 0 ahead of the second leg on Tuesday at Seville, Spain.
By: Clifford Adumbire | myactiveonline.com
