Chelsea are through to the Champions League semi-finals despite a 1-0 loss to Porto on Tuesday (April 13) thanks to the away goals rule.
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Chelsea are through to the Champions League semi-finals despite a 1-0 loss to Porto on Tuesday on the back of away goals. Mehdi Taremi scored trough a sensational overhead kick in the injury time. The match was a tightly-contested affair, with Chelsea sitting back and defending aggressively to protect the two away goals from the first leg. After the match both the coaches exchanged some heated words on the touchline. Both of the matches were played in Seville due to the coronavirus situation.
Mehdi Taremi scored one the best goals in the Champions League as he connected a curling cross from the right flank above his shoulder height to send the ball to the top corner from 12 yards from goal.
The Portuguese champions, who beat Juventus in the Round of 16, looked to attack but were dealt with by a solid Chelsea defense.
Chelsea were without Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christiensen ahead of the kick-off. However, the English team had the bench strength to replace them with N’Golo Kante and Thiago Silva.
Chelsea’s summer spending spree was very much the difference in the strength’s of both the squads.
Chelsea didn’t look to attack much as they were happy to sit back and deal with the Porto attack with some hardcore defending.
“I can imagine that both games were not the nicest games to watch on the television for spectators who look for entertainment,” coach Thomas Tuchel said afterwards.
“I can totally accept that, but it’s very hard to play your best game against Porto. Part of a performance is not letting your opponent perform. This is what they do and this is what we do also. Today was the day to hang in.”
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Tuchel delighted with the professionalism the Blues showed against Porto in the @ChampionsLeague.
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 13, 2021
Tuchel has a young energetic squad at his disposal and the German coach will be hoping to replicate Chelsea’s title triumph at the Allianz arena in 2012 against Bayern Munich.
They will play either Real Madrid or Liverpool in the semi-final.
The Porto coach showed his frustration after the match as he did not answer questions regarding the words exchanged with his counterpart on the sideline after the match.
