Chelsea Tie Atletico In UCL Semi-Final

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Chelsea travelled to Spain today for an important Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid.  Today was the first-leg of the semi-final and Chelsea manager José Mourinho gave Torres the start up front for the Blues against his former club.  Torres had another tiresome day as Atletico were able to control the majority of possession forcing the Chelsea striker to remain isolated for most of the match.

Atletico were the team more likely to score in this first meeting between the clubs, but had trouble breaking down the stout Chelsea defense.  The Terry-Cahill tandem in the center of the defense won nearly every ball played into their box to deny a number of Atletico attacks and the supporting midfielders Mikel and David Luiz stopped anything coming through the middle.

Chelsea will have some concerns going forward though, as a pair of injuries could leave them short-handed.  Keeper Pert Cech came down hard while defending a corner and had to be replace by Mark Schwarzer less than twenty minutes into the match.  Also John Terry sustained an ankle injury late in the match forcing David Luiz to drop back into the Chelsea defense to cover his absence.

Today was not a particularly good showing for Chelsea who had little offensive presence, especially lacking in fullback support.  Ashley Cole and Azpilicueta did not get forward at all making it nearly impossible for Torres, or anyone else, to threaten the Atletico defense.

Chelsea have a huge match over the weekend against Liverpool before the second-leg replay with Atletico.  Both matches will truly test the mettle of José Mourinho's team as Premier League and Champions League titles are on the line.

Chelsea Pull Off Unlikely Comeback

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Paris Saint-Germain enjoyed a two goal margin over Chelsea as the two met at Stanford Bridge for the second-leg of this Champions League fixture.  Winning 3-1 in Paris last week, P.S.G. came into today's match knowing that they needed another strong defensive performance to advance in the tournament.  Chelsea, on the other hand, knew that they must score two goals if they had any hopes of staying alive int the Champions League.

Eden Hazard was in the starting line-up for Chelsea, but lasted less than twenty minutes.  He was replaced by Andre Schürrle who found himself in the right place later in the first-half.  A long throw-in for Chelsea came into the P.S.G. box and David Luiz was able to get a flick header on the ball.  The flicked ball fell for Schürrle right in front of goal and he scored with a free volley (32').

Still needing more attacking presence, Chelsea inserted Demba Ba into the offense in place of holding midfielder Frank Lampard in the second-half.  Torres was also brought in for the final ten minutes of the match in a last-ditch effort by manager José Mourinho.  It was Ba though that managed to get the final goal to put Chelsea in front.  Azpilicueta fired a low shot towards goal that P.S.G. were unable to clear.  Instead Ba was able to get a sweeping left-foot on the ball from close range to score (87').

With just a few minutes left in the match, P.S.G. could not respond and thus eliminated from the Champions League.  That precious away-goal last week in France proved to be the deciding factor for Chelsea as the Blues advance to the semi-finals.

Chelsea See Red, Fall to Aston Villa

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First-place Chelsea travelled to Aston Villa looking to stretch their fourteen game unbeaten streak in the Premier League.  Chelsea won the previous meeting at Stanford Bridge earlier in the season, but for whatever reason manager José Mourinho has never won at Villa Park.  Today it was the latter streak that held up as Aston Villa handed Chelsea their first defeat in fifteen matches.

Aston Villa have had a poor run lately, winning only one of their last five matches, but came out today with confidence and intensity.  The back line of Villa was especially on its game today and halted several Chelsea attacks by catching them offsides.

The first-half ended scoreless with each club only managing one shot on target, and a goal dis-allowed for Chelsea.  On a corner-kick Nemanja Matić put the ball in the net, but he controlled the ball with his arm and the goal did not stand.  The more important stat of the first-half proved to the yellow cards issued, most notably shown to Chelsea's Willian.

As the second-half progressed manager José Mourinho decided to make a few changes, but left Willian despite carrying a booking.  The decision turned out to be fatal as moments later Willian was called for a foul from behind and was shown a second yellow card leading to his dismissal (R.C. 68').

Now playing with a man-up advantage, Aston Villa were able to penetrate the Chelsea defense and score the crucial goal.  Fabian Delph stole the ball off Ivanovic to initiate the attack and played the ball wide right to Marc Albrighton in space.  Albrighton was able to send a return ball into the box for Delph and he got just enough of a heel-flick to beat keeper Cech for the goal (82').

Chelsea's fortunes did not improve as the match closed out and a second red card was shown to Ramires for a malicious foul on El Ahmadi.  Moments prior Ramires saw a yellow for verbal dissent, but for the foul he got a hard red and could face a lengthy suspension.

Today's loss snaps Chelsea's long unbeaten streak and the club will have to shake it off with a Champions League match coming on Tuesday.  Next for Aston Villa is another home league game against Stoke City.

F.C. Basel Beat Chelsea Again in Champions League

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Earlier in September the Swiss club F.C. Basel beat Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.  In that match Oscar gave Chelsea the lead in the first-half, but conceded goals to Mohamed Salah and Marco Streller in the second-half.  Today in Switzerland, Oscar was a ghost for Chelsea and Samuel Eto'o was not playing well before coming out with an apparent groin injury.

Salah was the best player in the first-half for F.C. Basel and had two close chances saved by Petr Cech in goal.  Chelsea did not get much better in the second-half with Torres stepping in for Eto'o.  Torres was more involved in the attack, but could not find the space to test the keeper.

Late in the game F.C. Basel caught Chelsea napping following a substitution by the visitors.  Chelsea manager José Mourinho used his final substitution to bring on Kevin De Bruyne for Willian in a last-ditch effort to score the winner.  Instead the ensuing free-kick from F.C. Basel was played right behind the Chelsea defense.  Fabian Schär delivered the free-kick from behind midfield to put Mohamed Salah in-on-goal.  Chelsea defender Ivanović did not see Salah coming behind him and the Egyptian international had a free run at goal before scoring the game-winner (87').

Chelsea remain at the top of the Champions League group, while F.C. Basel now move ahead of German club Schalke 04.  After tomorrow's matches there will only be one more round of group play to sort out who advances to the knock-out round.  Chelsea are still in a good position to win the group, but that second spot will come down to the match between Basel and Schalke next month.

Chelsea Knock Out Arsenal From Football League Cup

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Cross-town English giants Arsenal and Chelsea squared off in a Capital One Football League Cup match today, the latter coming off a win against Manchester City just two days ago.  Not surprisingly Chelsea manager José Mourinho rested everyone used in the weekend match except defender Gary Cahill.  Similarly Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger sat all but three players from the weekend match.  The changes to Arsenal's line-up proved to be more costly than Chelsea's as the defense was not always on the same page.

For the second game in a row, Chelsea scored as a result of a bad header by an opposing defender to their keeper.  Chelsea defended an Arsenal corner-kick successfully and managed to break out on a counter-attack.  Carl Jenkinson attempted to play a header back to his keeper, but he did not get enough power on the ball and César Azpilicueta was ready to poke the ball in for Chelsea (25').

Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud were inserted into Arsenal's line-up in the second-half, but could not produce a goal.  Instead Chelsea extended their lead thanks to Juan Mata.  With his first touch Mata settled the ball before ripping a shot from just outside the penalty box to beat the keeper (66').

This fourth round meeting knocks Arsenal out of the tournament.  The clubs have two Premier League meetings with both still serious contenders for league champions.  There is also still a chance Arsenal and Chelsea meet in the Champions League and you can bet Arsenal would love to return the favor.