Chelsea faced a well organised Maribor side tonight, in a frustrating match which ended in a 1-1 draw. However Chelsea’s unbeaten run this season still remains intact. We also remain top of the group.
The other result in our group ended in a 4-2 win for Sporting after they faced Schalke at home.
Mourinho treated Maribor will full respect as he put out a strong side with the likes of Terry, Hazard and Fabregas; which was expected as we still haven’t qualified for the knockout stages.
The first half was certainly a frustrating one for Chelsea. We were sloppy in the final third with a lot of key passes getting misplaced.
Chelsea managed little chances on target. All of which were easily squandered by the keeper. We dominated the possession however, we couldn’t manage to create much from it.
Mourinho was clearly annoyed with our performance as he made two changes. Schurrle and Willian both made way for Costa and Oscar.
Maribor started the second half the better of the two sides. On the 50th minute Ibraimi found himself in yards of space. He stroked a superb curled effort into the far corner from the edge of the box, which no keeper would of saved.
Mourinho made his final change of game, Ramires came on for Filipe Luis. This resulted in a three man defence for Chelsea.
Maribor then came extremely close as Zahovic missed an open goal from 2 yards out. Chelsea were certainly let off the hook.
A very controversial talking point came next, as Oscar appeared to be clipped in the box. The referee waved away any appeals but if he did give the penalty, Maribor certainly wouldn’t of had many complaints.
Terry then climbed well in the box as he headed on Fabregas’ corner and Matic knocked it in at the back post to equalise for the visitors.
Hazard carried on to tease the Maribor defence with his wonderful skills and link up play. Drogba played the young Belgian through on goal as he turned in and out before he was brought down.
Hazard then took the resulting penalty. It was a weak effort from the Belgian as the keeper saved it with ease. Hazard, who doesn’t deserve criticism for his penalty technique missed his first penalty on his 18th attempt.
Chelsea carried on to apply pressure however this resulted to nothing.
Chelsea player ratings:
Cech – 6: Didn’t have to save too many shots. Did his part when called upon, he couldn’t do anything about the Maribor goal.
Ivanovic – 6: He got forward well and made a couple of good crosses but left Chelsea a bit open down the right at times.
Terry – 7: Fairly solid performance, made some good tackles and clearances.
Zouma – 5: Maybe should of scored a header in the first half. He also made some sloppy passes.
Filipe Luis – 6: Made a few good tackles. Maybe could of closed down Ibraimi quicker for their goal.
Fabregas – 4: Probably his worst performance in a Chelsea shirt, a few careless passes and tackles.
Matic – 7: Made some good tackles and snatched the goal. But in the first half he was a bit careless on the ball which resulted in us losing possession.
Hazard – 8: Chelsea’s best player on the pitch. Made great runs, passes and linked up well. His only fault was the penalty and a one on one he could of scored. However without him Chelsea wouldn’t of had as many chances.
Schurrle – 4: Didn’t get involved much, gave away the ball and his attempts at goal were fairly poor.
Willian - 6: Took on a few Maribor players and made some good runs. However he was a bit sloppy in the final third.
Drogba – 6: Didn’t hold the ball up as well as usual. Had a few tame efforts.
