Chelsea 0-1 FC Porto (aggregate 2-1); players rating vs Porto

Chelsea through to the semi-final of the Champions League as they beat Porto 2-1 on the aggregate scoreline. Despite Chelsea lost 1-0 to Porto tonight, they already had a 2-0 advantage through to the first leg as for the whole 180 minutes of football from both legs Chelsea is the deserving winners of this tie who had the better goal scoring chances and also with an extremely disciplined defensive display. Chelsea defends their 1st leg lead extremely well until the 92nd of the match which then they had a nervy ending of the match after Porto scored a wonderful goal but despite all the nervy moments Chelsea managed to gets through from this and qualify for the semi-final to face either Real Madrid or Liverpool. Also, Chelsea had a couple of good chances to score in this match but they couldn’t take their chances but as mentioned earlier despite the defeat on the 2nd leg on the balance of play from both legs Chelsea are the deserving winners of this tie and here are the players rating of the match.   

 

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, )

Formation-3-4-2-1 

GK- Edouard Mendy – could have easily cost the team at the beginning of the match after his poor pass went straight to Jesus Corona but Jorginho was there to save Chelsea and Mendy from that situation. Apart from that one moment, Mendy didn’t have anything to do apart from making easy saves, and his handling the balls from the crosses was good as well. Couldn’t do anything about the goal as he was well beaten by Mehdi Taremi. Rating- 6/10 

CB- Azpilicueta – he was faultless in defense for Chelsea today and also he was strong with his aerial duels today despite being one of the shortest players on the pitch. His passing ability was a bit wasteful today as he only completed 64 percent of his passing. But overall he did well to keep the Porto attacker quiet for the majority of the match.  Rating 7/10  

CB- Thiago Silva– his experience and leadership quality were key today as he was rock solid in the center of the defense. He also kept the players around to stay focus and aware of the Porto’s attacking as well. Silva also played a couple of good passes to the forwards which create some good openings.  Rating 7.5/10 

CB- Ruediger- not a good start from him as he looked a bit nervy at the start of the match and making mistakes. But then he grew into the game and he commanded his area well also he was dominant in his battle against Moussa Merga. Rating 7/10

RWB- Reece James- defensively he was immense today as he dealt well with Otavio as he didn’t let him pass through. James also put in some good tackles and also made some crucial clearances when Porto put in some crosses inside the box. But he could have slightly done better with the goal which he could close down Taremi faster yet still we could not take anything from the finishing of Taremi as well and also he caught offside so often when Chelsea had some openings to attack but overall another decent display from him.  Rating 7/10

LWB- Ben Chilwell– defend it well for the majority of the match as he dealt well with the pace of Jesus Corona but he lost him for one moment which he could have scored in the first, apart from that defensively Chilwell was good today. Create one good chance for Pulisic which the American should have done better with that and also link up well with Mount on the left side. Rating 7/10 

CM- Jorginho- the 1st 45 minutes of the match could be probably one of his best performances for Chelsea so far. When Porto was in the front foot for the 1st half the nearly stopped all of their dangerous attacks and also he put in a lot of good defensive duties for Chelsea throughout the match as he put in a match-high of 8 tackles and won his 12 duels which also the match-high as well. He also controlled the midfield and also his composure when Porto pressed him was superb as he didn’t put a wrong today in midfield and my man of the match for today.     Rating 8/10 Man of the match

CM- Ngolo Kante- his presence in the midfield was key today as he was everywhere for Chelsea when Porto had the possessions. Despite not fully fit and also a shaky start of the match Kante then grew into the game and protected the Chelsea defense well. He also created some good opening for Chelsea when he won the ball in the Midfield couple of times.  Rating-7.5/10 

RF- Mason Mount- one of his quietist games after he was in a very good form on his recent games. Had a chance to score in the 2nd half which was well defended by the Porto defense and also put Chilwell through which creates another goal-scoring opportunity for Chelsea. And also put in some decent crosses from the corner and apart from that, he was relatively quiet for the majority of the match.   Rating 6/10

LF- Christian Pulisic– the brightest attacking player for Chelsea who had 2 good chances to score and for the 1st chance he should have scored from Chilwell's pass as he completely missed his kick. And also he was the most fouled player on the pitch which he was fouled 11 times and also he had 100 percent take-ons completed as well. His finishing should have been better as I mentioned earlier he at least could have scored a goal today but it was another good performance from him as he continuing his recent good form for the club. Rating 7.5/10 

ST-  Kai Haverz-  he didn’t have any services today as he didn’t have shoots to attempt and also his aerial ability could have better in this match. But he worked so hard without the ball as he tirelessly pressed the Porto players and also with his hold-up play he creates some good openings for Chelsea to attack.  Rating 6/10 

 

Substitution

Hakim Ziyech for Mason Mount- came on for the last 8 minutes and creates one good chance for Pulisic. -Rating 5/10

Olivier Giroud for Kai Haverzt – just on the field for few minutes to run the clock down. Rating; NONE 

 

Manager

Thomas Tuchel- The game plan was spot on until the 92nd minutes, just to sit back and defend the lead as the team just play through to the 1st gear but if this went wrong then Tuchel would have been under huge Criticisms but it went well despite the last minutes troublesome. But for both legs, Tuchel did a very good job especially on the 1st leg which Chelsea had half of their job done which was crucial for them, and he is the first manager to lead Chelsea to the Semi-final of the Champions League since Jose Mourinho was in charge also it is Chelsea’s 1st semi-final appearances in 7 years. Chelsea had all the chances to make the final and but needed a very good performance for the Semi-final and also ahead of the Semi-final showdown with Manchester City in the FA Cup it was nice to have good momentum for that match. Despite the defeat, we are going through to the Semi-final’s and the manager deserves huge credit for what’s he doing the short time of the period since he took over.   Rating 9/10