Chelsea faced off against Atletico Madrid at the Arena Națională earlier tonight, hoping to pick up a positive result in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League last 16 tie. The Blues dominated the ball for major periods of the first half but couldn’t make the breakthrough as they went into the half-time interval all level on the scoreline.
Olivier Giroud managed to give the West London outfit the all-important lead in the 68th minute, which ended up being the difference between the two sides. The contest finished with Thomas Tuchel’s men coming away with a 1-0 win from Bucharest.
Let’s take a look at how each Chelsea player fared during the game against Atletico Madrid.
GK: Edouard Mendy – 6/10
Mendy didn’t have a save to make in the game and secured an easy clean sheet away from home.
CB: Cesar Azpilicueta – 8/10
The Spanish full-back won multiple aerial duels for his team and cleared his lines when required. He also managed to create a couple of decent chances in the opposition half.
CB: Andreas Christensen – 7/10
Christensen made some important clearances and did enough work defensively to secure the shutout.
CB: Antonio Rudiger – 7/10
He put his foot through the ball to deal with the danger when needed and will be quite happy with the clean sheet tonight.
RW: Callum Hudson-Odoi – 6.5/10
The youngster produced a hard-working shift down the right flank but struggled to engineer any meaningful chances in the final third.
CM: Jorginho – 6.5/10
Jorginho protected his teammates at the back but failed to cut open the Atletico Madrid defence with his passing during the 90 minutes.
CM: Mateo Kovacic – 7/10
He made a couple of driving runs with the ball from midfield and orchestrated one good chance in the attacking third.
LW: Marcos Alonso – 7/10
Alonso dealt with any threat that came his way and produced a lively display in the Atletico half.
RAM: Mason Mount – 7/10
Mount made a couple of promising goal-scoring opportunities for others around him and completed some dangerous dribbles towards the opponent’s penalty box.
LAM: Timo Werner – 6.5/10
Werner was a threat in the final third but was not clinical enough to get himself a goal.
ST: Olivier Giroud – 7.5/10
The French striker didn’t get too many chances but did well to net the only goal of the game in the 68th minute.
Substitutes:
CM: N’Golo Kante – 6/10
Kante added some energy to the Blues midfield.
RAM: Hakim Ziyech – 6.5/10
He was quite lively in the opposition half.
RW: Reece James – 6/10
James offered very little after coming off the bench.
LAM: Kai Havertz – N/A
The German playmaker came off the bench to run the clock down.
ST: Christian Pulisic – N/A
He hardly had any time to make an impact.
