Atletico Madrid and Chelsea play out a goalless draw in first leg of Champions League Semi-Final
Cesar Azpilicueta of Chelsea and Arda Turan of Club Atletico de Madrid battle for the ball during the UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match between Club Atletico de Madrid and Chelsea
The first leg of the Champions League Semi-Final between Atletico Madrid and Chelsea at the Vicente Calderon stadium ended in a stalemate with neither side able to find the back of the net. Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea; who were playing in their 7th Champions League Semi-Final in the last 11 years of the competition were tactically astute throughout the game to deny Atletico any clear chance at goal.
Diego Simeone’s men would have fancied their chances heading into the game, especially with Chelsea coming into the game after having virtually conceded the Premier League to Liverpool following their weekend loss at the hands of Sunderland. Though the current La Liga leaders had the lion’s share of the possession throughout the game; they just couldn’t eke out the all so important opportunity in front of goal.
Mourinho had his plans set from the get go and his team played it out to perfection. The Blues parked the bus from the early goings(65 clearances and 41 headed clearances) and played on the counter with Torres and ocassionally Willian providing them with the outlet. Atletico Madrid meanwhile found comfort in going the aerial route as they tried to impose the strengths of Diego Costa and Raul Garcia early and often(44 crosses).
The game overall however was pedestrian at best with Atletico playing intricate passes between themselves without having any real penetration; while Chelsea were happy to just soak up all that was thrown at them. The game seemed so stagnated that the biggest story of the entire first half was the withdrawal of Petr Cech from the game in the 17th minute. The Czech international landed heavily on his right arm following a save from a Koke corner that was creeping into the near post. The damage was enough for Chelsea’s No. 1 to be taken off in the early stages and be replaced with Mark Schwarzer. With this appearance, the Aussie Schwarzer became the oldest player to ever play in the knock out stages of the Champions League, surpassing Edwin Van Der Sar.
Meanwhile Atletico were restricted to long rangers and diagonals aimed particularly at Raul Garcia at the far post and efforts from Diego and Suarez from distance.
The second half was played much to the tune of the first with Atletico pressing forward in search of the illusive goal only to be thwarted by the blue wall time and again. The Spaniards persisted with crosses form the flanks with Juanfran and Gabi providing quality balls from the wings only to be wasted by Raul Garcia and Diego Costa. The second half however brought more bad news in regards to injuries for Chelsea as their skipper John terry also had limp off in the 73rd minute. Yellow cards for Frank Lampard, Mikel and Gabi in the 2nd half means the trio will be out for the second leg of the tie.
Los Colchoneros enjoyed an better spell after the departure of Terry as they pummelled the balls in from all angle. However Raul Garcia, Diego Costa and especially Arda Turan in the 79th minute couldn’t make the most of the quality served from the wings. SImeone tried to provide the impetus late on by bringing David Villa on but the game from then on drizzled and fizzled to a stalemate.
While Jose Mourinho’s men accomplished what they had come for, it wasn’t the worst of result for Simeone either as a goal at Stamford Bridge would see the Spaniards right into the driver’s seat.
Teams:
Atletico Madrid: Courtois; Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe; Mario Suarez (80′- Jose Sosa), Gabi; Koke, Raul Garcia(86′-David Villa), Diego(60′- Arda Turan); Diego Costa.
Chelsea : Cech(17′-Schwarzer), Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry(73′- Schurlle), Cole, Mikel, Luiz, Lampard, Ramires, Willian(93′-Ba), Torres