A cagey, ‘stop-start’ game was what played out in the Vicente Calderon, as Chelsea took home a 0-0 draw from their Champions League semi-final first leg against Atlético Madrid.Â
A goalless draw between two very tactically different sides on the night saw Chelsea go back to Stamford Bridge with a draw, clean sheet but no vital away goal for the second leg.
Chelsea lined up with Ashley Cole at left-back and Azpilicueta on the right to fill in for the suspended Branislav Ivanovic, and were without both Eden Hazard and Samuel Eto’o through injury.
Lampard, Mikel and Luiz made up the midfield, with Willian and Ramires playing either side of Fernando Torres, who beat Demba Ba to a starting place up front.
A cagey and rather action lacking first half was overshadowed by a nasty injury to goalkeeper Petr Cech who was replaced by Mark Schwarzer, who looked the definition of calmness following his blunder against Sunderland on Saturday.Â
It has come out that Petr Cech dislocated his shoulder, and after the game, manager Jose Mourinho confirmed that Cech will miss the remainder of the season with the injury.
Chelsea’s only real attack was when Ramires broke free of a few Madrid defenders, only to find himself lacking in support when his cross petered into nothing.
Madrid certainly had the better of the half, mainly posing a threat from crosses and set-pieces, which Schwarzer managed to deal with comfortably to settle any nerves.Â
The second half appeared slightly more open, as Chelsea committed a couple more bodies forward on the counter, in turn leaving their defence slightly more exposed, but never really being threatened by players such as Diego Costa.
A scare for Chelsea came when Mark Schwarzer, unusually for the night he was having, nervously punched away a cross, straight to Diego who could only fire the ball straight back at the Australian keeper.Â
Another blow for Chelsea was the, yet again, nasty looking injury to John Terry. The Chelsea captain limped of after turning his ankle.
It was confirmed post-match that John Terry is expected to miss the second leg of this tie – a huge blow for Chelsea.
David Luiz filled in alongside Gary Cahill and Chelsea looked as solid as ever.
Chelsea never looked a real threat to the Spanish side’s defence, only looking promising from corners, the majority of which on loan Chelsea shot stopper Thibaut Courtois dealt with relatively comfortably.
Another sterling defensive performance from Chelsea meant they were the first side to stop Atléti scoring in the competition this season, and just the third side to keep a clean sheet in the Calderon all campaign.
The game ended without Chelsea target Diego Costa ever threatening his possible future club, but the result means that Chelsea must win the second leg to go through, with any other result sending through the Spaniards.
They will also have to do it without the services of Frank Lamapard, John Obi Mikel and Petr Cech; the latter picking up an injury and suspension ruling Lampard and Mikel out.
Mikel will be a big miss, after the Nigerian put in one of his finer displays of the season and possibly his Chelsea career; heading away anything that came into the box and putting his body infront of anything in true Chelsea style.
Mikel gets my Man of the Match vote, but who gets yours?
After the game, Mourinho and Mark Schwarzer reflected on a result that will divide opinions among Chelsea fans as to whether it was a successful one or not.
Tonight’s stand in goalkeeper, despite coming into the game late, was impressed with the performance:
“Everyone was up for the challenge & our quality showed. We didn’t create many chances. It was still a good display.â€
In addition, Azpilicueta described the stalemate as a “positive resultâ€, and Madrid’s players also claimed they were unhappy that they could not find the win.
Finally, Jose Mourinho seemed happy with the match, in which he performed yet another solid and comfortable display against a top, top side:
“Atletico needed to win this game & we stopped them. We played a solid game & frustrated Atletico who normally frustrate others.â€
Should Chelsea have gone for the win, or is a draw enough to see us to the final?
Chelsea fans will next cheer on their side for yet another away game, with the trip to Anfield, home of the league leaders, getting ever closer.
Despite their title race being seemingly over, Sunday’s match will surely be an intriguing one as Chelsea still have a massive part to play in the conclusion to the season.
Part two of tonight’s game comes back at home next Wednesday evening, where only a win will do for Mourinho’s side.
Atlético vs Chelsea: Match facts
- No team has attempted more crosses in a UCL game without scoring than Atletico Madrid vs Chelsea.
- This is the first time Atléti have failed to score in the UCL this season
- Chelsea made 65 clearances against Atlético Madrid, 41 of which were headers
- Â 6 clean sheets in 11 Champions League games for Chelsea this season
- Fernando Torres completed 6 out of 8 take-ons, more than the whole Atléti side combined
