Chapter 538: A big win at home
Jose Mourinho had wanted to keep his goal clean with the 'enhanced bus' and then wait to return to Stamford Bridge to face Atletico Madrid. However, what the Portuguese madman did not expect was that the "enhanced bus" that he was proud of had not been heard for 20 minutes before Atletico Madrid took the lead in breaking the deadlock.
Objectively speaking, Chelsea defended well in the first 20 minutes of the game. Even though Atletico Madrid had close to 70% possession, the shooting opportunities created by the opponent were not very large, and there was not a single shot on goal in the penalty area.
However, Chelsea, who had always worn down their opponents with tenacious defence in previous games and then won the victory with a sudden flash of stars up front, shot themselves in the foot this time.
Mourinho, who has won all five major league titles except the Bundesliga and Ligue 1, as well as two Champions League trophies, is worthy of being a world-class coach. Even if Chelsea were in a disadvantageous situation from away from home due to the windy "Full Moon Scimitar", he did not choose to attack rashly, but hoped that the team could get through the rest of the first half smoothly and wait until half-time to make adjustments.
The main reason why Mourinho did not make immediate adjustments was that most of the starting line-up for this game was purely defensive. Therefore, with the existing players on the field, even if they launch a counter-attack immediately, it will be difficult to break through the door of Atletico Madrid, which is also excellent in defense.
Moreover, once the team's attack is blocked, Atletico Madrid, who are very proficient in counter-attacking, is likely to further extend the lead of the score.
Therefore, even if this game is a small loss, Mourinho is not willing to rush to counterattack. Even if you want to pull back the score, at least you have to get through the rest of the first half before you can plan for it.
Seeing that Chelsea had no intention of attacking after conceding a goal, Diego Simeone had no intention of taking advantage of the victory. When the two teams are relatively close in strength, it is often who scores more away goals in the final decision of which team can finally advance, so even a small victory at their home stadium is better than an away goal by the opponent.
As a result, Atletico Madrid, who were leading by one goal, not only slowed down the pace of the game, but also left only Feng Quan, Diego Costa and Saul in the front court.
In this way, with both teams unwilling to invest too much in the attack, until the referee blew the whistle at the end of the first half, the two teams still maintained a 1-0 scoreline.
After a 15-minute break, Mourinho finally decided to give it a go. At the start of the second half, the Portuguese maniac replaced captain John Terry, who sprained his ankle in first-half stoppage time, with Eden Hazard, who had suffered a minor injury.
With the arrival of Eden Hazard, there has been a change in the positions of many of the Chelsea players on the pitch. David Luiz, who played in defensive midfield in the first half, replaced John Terry and Gary Cahill in central defence, allowing Ramires to return to his familiar position, while Willian moved to the right.
Although the sending of Eden Hazard represents a signal for Chelsea to counterattack, they are afraid of the terror of the combination of Feng Quan and Diego Costa, and their entire backline and the more defensive midfielder Mikel are still rarely involved in the attack.
Eden Hazard gave Chelsea some improvement in attack after his appearance, but it was difficult to get too many attacking opportunities in front of Atletico Madrid's steely defence with very limited support from his team-mates.
Although Chelsea's backline was always on the side of their own half, Atletico Madrid's attack increased the pressure when the rest of the midfielders were putting most of their energy into attacking. In particular, the alternating impact of Feng Quan, Diego Costa and Saul is a headache for them.
In the ninth minute of the second half, Saul broke through to the corner of the box along the left flank and passed the ball to Diego Costa near the top of the box.
With his back to goal, Diego Costa first knocked the ball back to Koke who had cut in and then quickly completed a turn and slotted past Gary Cahill into the box.
Koke took a step forward and then took a long-range shot, but when Ramirez stretched out his leg to block the line, he flicked the ball sideways with the outside of his right foot and then sent a through ball into the space on the right side of the box.
Feng Quan, who was originally cruising on the right side of the front court, stopped the ball with lightning insertion, and then hit the goal with a curling ball with his left foot.
Although goalkeeper Petr Cech bravely blocked the ball off the line, the angle of Fengquan's shot was a bit tricky, causing the can't dodge Cech's right shoulder to hit the post directly.
After a brief treatment by the medical staff, Cech was able to continue the game, but the pain in his right shoulder still affected his performance.
In the 15th minute of the second half, Feng Quan received a return from Diego Costa in the middle of the front field and made a slight adjustment, and then completed a heavy bombardment from 256 meters from the goal.
Although Feng Quan's shot was very powerful, the angle of the shot was a little right under the interference of Ramirez.
However, just when the Chelsea players thought that the well-positioned Petr Cech would easily confiscate the ball, Cech, who had been performing well in the previous game, unexpectedly caught the ball and got out of his hands.
Although Diego Costa rushed to goal as soon as possible, it was Gary Cahill who was closer to kick the ball off the line.
After seeing that Feng Quan's seemingly unthreatening shot caused Cech to get out of his hands, Diego Simeone immediately realised that although Cech was still able to keep playing, he still injured himself when he hit the post.
Simeone then asked his players to try more shots on goal, and due to the fact that Cech had injured his right arm, he also asked everyone to try to target the left side of the Chelsea goal to make it more difficult for Cech to make a save.
Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho also asked veteran Australian goalkeeper Mark Schartzer to warm up and prepare to replace Cech.
However, before Schwarzer could finish his warm-up, the Chelsea goal was once again lost.
In the 19th minute of the second half, Feng Quan cut inside from the left side and cut near the top of the penalty area, and suddenly shot low.
In previous matches, most of the shots after cutting inside would have been shot into the far corner, but this time, due to Simeone's request, he chose to shoot the ball into the near corner.
Although Cech accurately judged the direction of Feng Quan's shot, the growing pain in his right shoulder affected his save speed.
So, Cech, who gritted his teeth to make the save, could only helplessly watch the football rub his fingertips into the goal.
…………
When Feng Quan scored with the "Full Moon Scimitar", the mood of the Chelsea players was not affected much, after all, if it was only a goal difference, there was still a lot of hope to recover the disadvantage after returning to the home stadium.
However, Feng Quan's second goal was a huge blow to the morale of the Chelsea players.
Originally, the Chelsea team could still rely on a relatively solid defense, relying on the excellent individual ability of Hazard, Torres and other frontcourt players to pose a certain threat to Atletico Madrid's goal.
However, with player morale getting low, not only is it difficult for Chelsea to break into Atletico Madrid's 30-metre zone, but there are also more and more holes in the backline.
In the 29th minute of the second half, after Feng Quan took the ball at the front of the penalty area to attract the attention of the opposing two players, he suddenly passed the ball to the huge gap on the left side of the front field, and quickly inserted it into the space on the right side of the penalty area.
Felipe Luiz, who was inserting at high speed, took a step forward and then cut into the box with the ball.
Just as Branislavic and Ramirez were about to form a joint with him, Felipe Luiz passed the ball from the gap between the two to the penalty spot.
Outflanked in the middle, Diego Costa scrambled the ball into the top left corner of the net before Gary Cahill could go down to clear the ball.
Just as the fans stood up to celebrate the team's third goal, the 41-year-old veteran goalkeeper Schwarzer miraculously blocked Diego Costa's must-score goal.
Eight minutes later, Feng Quan's cold shot from outside the box was deflected off Mikel's right leg and was intercepted by Diego Costa, who was ambushed in the box.
Diego Costa, who was facing the goal, made a slight adjustment and pushed the ball with his right foot into the bottom right corner of the goal.
However, just when Diego Costa thought he could finally open the draw this time, Schwarzer fell to the ground again with lightning and then poked the ball out of the line with his fingertips.
Schwarzer, who made two consecutive saves, failed to complete the goal of "clean sheet" Diego Costa.
In the 42nd minute of the second half, Feng Quan sent a cross with a very obvious arc into the penalty area about 6 meters from the bottom line on the right side.
Mario Suarez, who flanked in the middle, was on target, but Schwarzer, who had already attacked, also failed to touch the ball that flew to the back post.
Saul, who had been waiting at the back post for a long time, scrambled the ball back into the middle before Branislavic cleared the ball, and then Diego Costa, who was ambushed near the penalty spot, flicked the ball into the top left corner of the net.
In the end, with a brace from the wind and a header from Diego Costa before the end, Atletico Madrid, who won at home, has already stepped into the Champions League final with one foot.