In the first leg of last night's second round of the Champions League, Chelsea took on Spanish club Atletico Madrid. Although it was Atl...
In the first leg of last night's second round of the Champions League, Chelsea took on Spanish club Atletico Madrid. Although it was Atletico's 'home' match, the match was held at the Arena Nacionala in Bucharest, the Romanian capital.
After beating Atletico's Argentine coach Diego Simeone in a tactical game, Chelsea's German coach Thomas Tuchel returned to London with a valuable away goal. French striker Olivier Giroud scored Chelsea's winning goal.
Atletico, as usual, took the field 4-4-2. The presence of three center-backs including Mario Hermoso, Felipe and Stefan Savic on the defensive, despite being seen 4-4-2 on paper, often made the table almost 3-5-2, with Spanish midfielder Marcos Yorente and French winger Tom Lass playing as two wingbacks.
Attacking midfielder Joao Felix from Portugal paired up at the top with Luis Suarez. Meanwhile, Tuchel came down to a 4-3-3 table on paper and pen to beat Simeone's tactic, but most of the time the table turned to 3-5-2 or 3-4-3 like Atletico.Where Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudigar and Andrea Christianensen played as center-backs, Marcos Alonso and Callum Hudson-Aday played in front of the attack as two wingbacks of German striker Timo Werner with Jiru on the left flank.
From the outset, Atletico had many chances to score. Thomas Lemar missed a simple opportunity to score in the 14th minute by tapping in from Luis Suarez's pass. In the very next minute, Chelsea lost a similar chance. Atletico were rescued in the 39th minute by goalkeeper Ian Oblak with a strong shot from Werner.
The direction of the game was dominated by Chelsea, while Suarez struggled to take hold of the ball. Over the last 6 minutes, Chelsea had opened her forehead. With a great bicycle kick, Jiru led the team.
The target was cancelled at first because of offside, but with the aid of VAR, Chelsea understood the goal at the end. After changing players, Atletico did not alter their fortunes. With a valuable away goal, the London team returned home.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich, the reigning champions, have left Lazio in a humiliating way. In the first half, the lead was taken by Robert Lefandowski, Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sun, with Bayern pocketing the match.The Lazio center-back Francesco Aserbi's suicide goal widened the gap in the second minute of the second half. Two minutes later, the gap was only narrowed by Argentine winger Huakin Correa's goal. No more targets in the end.
Therefore, at the end of the first leg, the two 2011-12 Champions League semi-finalists, Chelsea and Bayern, are in an advantageous position.
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