Chelsea 2-0 Atletico Madrid; Players Rating vs Atletico Madrid

Chelsea is through to the quarter-final of the champions league this season as they beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 on the night at Stamford Bridge and 3-0 on the aggregate. The better team have won the last 16 of this tie as Chelsea dominated again in the 2nd leg as they did in the 1st leg. Defensively Chelsea was superb again as the Spanish only had 1 clear goal-scoring opportunity but that was towards the end of the match and attacking wise Chelsea gave a lot of issues for Atletico Madrid’s defense as Chelsea could have scored more than 2 goals in this match. For the 1st time in 7 years, Chelsea is through to the quarter-final of the champions’ league, and what a performance it was from the team. Here is the player rating of the match as Chelsea line up at their usual 3 at the back system.       

Note;(GK-Goal Keeper, CB- Centre Back, LWB- Left Wing Back, RWB-Right Wing Back, CM- Centre Midfield, LF-Left Forward, RF-Right Forward ST-Striker, )

GK- Edouard Mendy – until the 91st minutes he made a couple of simple saves which was expected to be saved by any keeper but then towards the end of the match he made one superb reflex save from Joao Felix to keep his deserved clean sheet. Rating- 7/10 

CB- Azpilicueta – he was superb again and he didn’t let anything goes past him as he dealt well with Joao Felix for the Majority of the match. But despite all that one moment of madness from him could and probably should have been the huge blow for Chelsea in this tie as he grabs down Carrasco inside the Penalty box. Azplicueta could have been sent off and Atletico Madrid could have been awarded a penalty if the referee goes to the VAR monitor TV to check that incident but he gets away with that. Player of his experience level and as the captain of this club he should not be doing that again because on another day he will not get away from that kind of incident. Despite all his superb contribution to this match, he was lucky to be get away from that incident therefore if we took away that incident he was 8/10 for this match. But for that particular incident despite it didn’t cost the match for Chelsea he will not get that higher rating today.  Rating 6.5/10  

CB- Kurt Zouma– Fans was worried about the absence of Inform Christensen because of illness but Zouma did his job perfectly in the center of defense in the absence of the Danish International. Dealt well with everything he faced especially he was dominant aerially as Zouma did his job perfectly tonight. Rating 8/10 

CB- Ruediger- yet again he was the best defender for Chelsea today as he was immense for this match. Bullied Luis Suarez for the whole game and he dealt with everything he faced today. And also he nearly scored a thunderbolt from range as his effort just went wide of the post. A near man of the match display from him but only denied by a world-class display from another player. Rating 9/10

RWB- Reece James- defensively he was rock solid when he calls upon and attacking wise he put in a lot of dangerous crosses inside the box which deserved a better fate. He also made some thriving forward runs which cause a lot of issues for Renan Lodi on the right side of the attacking half. Rating 8.5/10

LWB-Marcos Alonso– his positioning when Atletico Madrid attack was spot on as Kieran Trippier couldn’t do anything to gets the better of the Spanish International. And he also caused some problems for the Defense of the Spanish side when he goes forward but his decision making on certain occasion could have been better for this match especially when he was put through by Havertz, instead of finding Werner inside the box Alonso went for himself which resulted in a poor attempt by him. But relatively this was a decent display from the left wing-back.   Rating 7/10

CM- Ngolo Kante- Whenever Atletico Madrid had the ball, Kante was there to prevent them from progressing as this little man was everywhere around the pitch. What a world-class performance was from him. his clearances were the main reason for both goals and for the 2nd goal, his incredible run off the ball during the counter-attack which was the reason for Emerson left for totally free and slot it for the 2nd goal. He also had a match-high of 13 recoveries, also joint high of 2 interceptions, and he created some good goal scoring chances with some thriving runs which shows the impact he had on both attacking and defensive aspects of the match. When Kante is on top form there might only a few other midfielders around the world able to compete with him. Rating 9.5/10 man of the match

CM- Mateo Kovacic-Alongside Kante, Kovacic dominate the midfield for Chelsea today as Saul and Koke couldn’t able to compete with this world-class duo in the midfield. He controlled the midfield and he was composed and calm with the ball when the opponent players pressed him which was the key reason for Chelsea to play out from the back. Rating-8.5/10 

RF- Hakim Ziyech- During the 1st half Ziyech didn’t have a good game as he loses the ball couple of times easily and also had some sloppy passes but he was in right place and right time the score the crucial 1st goal of the match. That goal gained confidence in him as Ziyech looked like a different player in the 2nd half. He created a couple of great goal-scoring opportunities for Werner with nice through balls and also he had shot well saved by Jan Oblak. Rating 8/10

LF- Kai Havertz – another impressive Performance from the young German International as he put Werner through free with superb control and pass from Kante’s clearances which were resulted in the 1st goal of the match. His hold-up play was good as well and also he had some nice link-up passes with Ziyech and Werner. But He also had a couple of sloppy moments and he should offer more without the ball for the team. Rating 7.5/10 

ST- Timo Werner - the only thing lacked today was his finishing. He could have a couple of goals if he covert his chances to the goal which also has credited the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak who made a couple of good saves from Werner’s attempt. But apart from that Werner was superb for Chelsea today as he assisted Ziyech for the 1st goal and also his pace; movement and link-up play with Ziyech and Havertz caused a lot of issues the Atletico Madrid’s Defence. Rating 8.5/10 

 

Substitution

Christian Pulisic for Hakim Ziyech - came on for the last 13 minutes had a couple of good openings but his poor passes caused the move. Finally, find the right pass as he assisted Emerson for the 2nd goal-Rating of 6/10

Hudson Odoi for Timo Werner – had some chances to score the 2nd goal but he didn’t take his chances well but he looks lively with his 10 minutes Cameo. - Rating 6/10

Emerson for Kai Havertz–came on in the injury time of the match and had an unexpected contribution. 1st touch, bang goal.    Rating 6/10

Ben Chilwell for Marcos Alonso- the only contribution he had to do is celebrate Emerson’s goal which they both came on at the same time. Rating; NONE

 

Manager

Thomas Tuchel- he is the 1st Chelsea manager to go unbeaten in the first 13 games as a Chelsea manager. What he has done in the short period was impressive. He gets Chelsea back into the top 4 spots and now Chelsea is through to the quarter-final of the champions’ league for the 1st time in 7 years. His game management and tactics were spots on particularly the plan expose Atletico Madrid on the counter were spot on which Chelsea gave them a taste of their own medicine. The progression of the team also looking good and when this type of tactical genius is manager means the future of the club is looking very bright.   Rating 10/10