Europa League: FC Basel 1-2 Chelsea Review

Chelsea will take a 2-1 lead into next week’s second leg against FC Basel after David Luiz scored the winner on the night with literally the last kick of the game. Two away goals put us in a commanding position and we are now favourites to progress to the final although there is still work to do.

On the whole, the performance overall was good and pretty solid. Apart from one or two nervy moments and the woodwork, we never really looked like conceding last night.

I felt that our biggest problem was the fact that we were not ruthless enough in front of goal and it could have cost us late on in the game, after the referee awarded one of the most ridiculous penalties I have ever seen!

In the first half, Chelsea looked comfortable and never looked to have any problems. Rafa’s decision to rotate the players in this one was a good one as John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Victor Moses came back into the starting eleven. The two most noticeable changes were David Luiz pushing forward to play alongside Lampard in the middle, with Ramires moving out wide and Eden Hazard moving inside to play directly behind Fernando Torres.

Chelsea looked to have a good balance, and apart from giving the ball away too many times, when they moved it quickly, Eden Hazard was causing them all sorts of problems.

Chelsea’s opener came from another headed goal from an unlikely source. Frank Lampard swung a corner into the box and Victor Moses sneaked in unmarked behind Ivanovic to head the ball down into the turf, and it bounced over the defender on the goal line and into the net from 8 yards to make it 1-0.

The goal calmed us down, and if anything, opened the game up as Basel came at us. The game seemed more like a cup tie now with both sides going at each other. Chelsea could have capitalised on our counter attacks on more than one occasion, but an important tackle or frustrating final ball played in error prevented us from doing so.

The second half was even more like a cup tie with the game stretched. Basel and Chelsea both hit the post with both goalkeepers beaten all ends up. Sommer in the Basel goal made a point blank save from John Terry from 6 yards and Terry was left standing looking at the ‘keeper in total disbelief!

Again, Chelsea had plenty of opportunities to score a second but the final ball or cross into the box wasn’t good enough. Hazard was replaced by Juan Mata and the like for like change helped us maintain our threat on the counter attack. Once again though, the final pass let us down.

Then with around ten minutes to go, came the game changer! A ball swung into the box towards the back post was contested between Stocker, the Basel winger, and Cesar Azpilicueta. The Chelsea man looked to have guided the ball away from goal under pressure from his opponent only for the referee to award a penalty to the disbelief of everyone in a Chelsea shirt! The fact that the player had to explain why it was awarded gave the impression that even he couldn’t believe it!

The penalty was scored to make it 1-1 and it looked like we would see the game out and take the away goal back to the Bridge, but David Luiz had other ideas.

After some good work by Victor Moses beating a couple of defenders, driving towards goal, he was taken out by a defender with a last ditch tackle and the free kick was awarded. Juan Mata had Frank Lampard had both had attempts on goal from direct free kicks without any luck, so Luiz stepped up for this one.

Everyone was expecting a shot over the wall to dip into the net as we have already seen a couple of times from him this season but this time it was different. Luiz side-footed the ball through a gap at the end of the wall and placed his shot low towards the far corner. The goalkeeper should have made the save but fluffed his attempt to palm the ball away and it found its way into the corner of the net to make it 2-1 to Chelsea.

That was the final kick of the night and Chelsea take two away goals back to the Bridge next week with the 2-1 lead, and have one foot firmly in the final. Ashley Cole picked up a booking and will miss the second leg, as will one of Basel’s important defenders, Dragovic.

Chelsea could and should have been more ruthless and will be looking to make these chances count next week. We just need to play our football, remain solid and we will book our place in our second European final in the space of two seasons.

How did you rate last nights performance?

Carefree & KTBFFH!