After a 1-0 victory snatched by Giroud, Chelsea wish to confirm the good momentum under Tuchel by confirming their qualification in the Champions League quarterfinals tonight. Opposite, Atlético will have to leave their compact line of 6 aside and play their game to hope to qualify. Will Simeone manage to surprise Tuchel at Stamford Bridge?
The team rosters at kick-off:
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Tuchel had to deal with two suspended: Mount and Jorginho. He left his 3-4-1-2 aside used in the first leg to line up a 3-4-2-1 tonight, with Ziyech and Havertz behind Werner. Kanté holds in the middle with Kovacic. Reece James is also back, he who had been left out on the way to the benefit of Hudson-Odoi.
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From the classic Simeone side, the famous 4-4-2 is out. Llorente went up a notch compared to the outward journey thanks to the return of Trippier suspension. To the left, Carrasco is preferred to Lemar. Gimenez, absent on the outward journey is also back.
Chelsea pushes Atlético
The Blues have better finished the first leg and remain on their way. More creative, more numerous on the wings, they manage to unbalance Atlético by lifting the ball quickly, as on Ziyech’s goal, or by going through the wings and reversing on the restart. In some sequences, the absence of a profile like Giroud is felt to release his own at the exit of the ball but Chelsea manages to do well without. The contributions of James and Alonso are very solid in piston, Kanté does a huge job in the middle and the trio of attackers manage to dezone and combine. Nothing can worry these Blues!
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Opposite, Atlético is struggling. With more offensive intentions than on the first leg, the Cochoneros wanted to surprise the Londoners with a very high pressing. Only, Chelsea and their defenders had the technical quality to get by. Despite good streaks and good calls from Llorente, Félix and Carrasco, he lacks the creativity to create a real difference and a clear opportunity. From now on, Atlético will have to uncover themselves to score two, and Chelsea will find themselves exploiting spaces similar to those that Atlético left on goal. Big risk-taking expected from Cochoneros to get a big reward.
Chelsea unrolls
Despite many changes during the period, Chelsea confirmed what we saw in the first with a mastery coupled with enough creativity to create 2-0 balls. The second goal is there to complete a well-built success. A team in place, solid and serene behind has been able to bypass the high pressing and hard defense of Atléti over two matches and deserves its qualification.
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Among the Spaniards, we took the same to do worse in the second half. The lack of that call or pass to create a goal situation continued to be screaming and behind the failure of the high pressing the defense was porous. A silly nudge from Savic later and Madrid’s slim hopes were dashed to nothing, which gave us an eventful end to the game but we already knew the outcome.
The keys to the match
The flops of the match
Suarez : Not present for 58 minutes. Luis Suarez is now 25 games in a row without scoring away in C1, and he was not even close to succeeding in stopping this series tonight. No dangerous ball touched or given, Suarez was as little available at construction as he was absent in depth. Atlético played 10 with him on the pitch.
Atlético pressing : Simeone has called on his team block to come out and prevent the Blues’ short raise. On paper, the idea is good but the players aligned do not correspond to this philosophy. Depriving Correa and Lemar to make Carrasco and Suarez press high is not a good choice given the profiles and the volume of play of each and it has been seen. Rüdiger and Zouma looked like Beckenbauer against Atléti’s wobbly pressing and that led to their downfall.
Strong choices
Tuchel : The Kanté-Kovacic double pivot worked wonderfully for Tuchel. And this was the source of good short raises to bypass pressing, good balls spread on the pistons and incisive stalls of the three forwards. Tuchel chose to do without Giroud and it paid off, this qualification is especially for him as he outclassed el Chulo.
Simeone : He wanted to keep his 4-4-2 and an offensive animation close to that of the first leg and was wrong. The very high pressing proved ineffective because the players lined up were not made for it, the wingers never knew how to combine with the full-backs and creativity was absent in the middle. No change paying or weighing on the course of the match and elimination without having proposed anything new for el Chulo.
Man of the match
He is small, he is kind and he drank the middle of Atléti. N’Golo Kanté was everywhere, in recovery as in recovery. Second in successful passes and key passes, Kanté brought in offensively tonight and finished with the second total of balls touched behind Azpilicueta. Defensively, he managed 2 interceptions and won 4 duels to seal the gap. A complete and auspicious performance 3 months before the Euro.
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A double confrontation to forget for SImeone who initially did not seek the solution on the way out, then who did not find it on the return. Chelsea join the qualifiers in the quarter pending the draw on Friday at noon.
Cover photo source: AFP via Getty Images.
