The disillusionment is immense for Chelsea. Long in the game against Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes, the Blues finally sank in a completely crazy final to lose (5-2) in the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League. A heavy defeat which resonates all the more strongly as it had the air of revenge for the Parisians, after the very controversial final of the Club World Cup won by Chelsea last summer, an evening which ended in tension and an altercation notably involving Luis Enrique. This time, the scenario was the opposite. For more than an hour, the Londoners responded blow for blow to the Parisians before completely collapsing in the last twenty minutes.
At a press conference, Liam Rosenior appeared marked by this cruel scenario. The Chelsea manager did not try to hide his frustration or the difficulty of the task that now awaits his team before the return match at Stamford Bridge. “We are still happy with our performance. The last 15-20 minutes were completely crazy. We were punished by a very good team. When you look at the score it really hurts. For 75 minutes, we were really good. Filip Jørgensen played very well, that’s part of football. At that moment at 2-2, we were close to scoring a 3rd goal, there was also Pedro’s offside. The 5th goal really hurts too“. The Blues will have to come back three goals to hope to see the quarter-finals and the atmosphere around the London club suddenly seems much heavier. Listening to the first echoes from England, confidence seems largely damaged after this spectacular collapse.
“Sacre Bleu! Chelsea collapse against PSG»
The British press has not been kind to the Blues. For Sky Sportsthe meeting “quickly turned into a nightmare” for Chelsea. The channel emphasizes that the team was still fully in the race until the last twenty minutes before conceding three goals in quick succession. The English media also point out that this type of scenario is starting to become familiar for Rosenior’s men, already guilty of several poor performances in the league against teams like Burnley or Leeds until recently: “an unfortunately all too familiar scenario. This performance almost destroyed their chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals.“. According to Sky SportsChelsea continue to pay for their lack of composure in key moments, a fault which completely turned the match over in Paris. Criticism has mainly focused on the goalkeeper position. THE Daily Mail called Rosenior’s decision to do without Robert Sánchez a “disastrous”pointing to Filip Jørgensen’s blunder on the third Parisian goal as the turning point of the match. THE Guardian also evokes a “tremendous embarrassment” around the Danish goalkeeper after his failed recovery which gave Vitinha the goal. For his part, The Sun talk about an error “catastrophic” which almost destroyed London’s hopes even before the return match.
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Same tone on the side Daily Mirror which brutally sums up the evening in one formula: “Sacre Bleu! Chelsea collapses against PSG: a fatal error causes a chasm and destroys the hopes of the Blues. The Blues looked on course for a draw until their goalkeeper, Filip Jorgensen, made a huge mistake, giving the Champions League title holders the opportunity to all but seal the fate of the match“. Chelsea looked to be holding on to a draw before their goalkeeper opened up a gap that was almost impossible to bridge. Beyond the single case of Chelsea, it is all of English football which emerges frustrated from this first European round. No Premier League team has managed to win in these round of 16 first legs. Manchester City was swept aside (3-0) by Real Madrid, Arsenal disappointed with a draw against Bayer Leverkusen (1-1), Liverpool lost in Istanbul against Galatasaray (1-0) and Newcastle did not resist the return of FC Barcelona (1-1) at the end of the match. Without forgetting the total humiliation inflicted by Atlético de Madrid on Igor Tudor’s Tottenham in crisis (5-2) In this gloomy context, the collapse of Chelsea in Paris perfectly symbolizes a dark European week for England. Barring an improbable miracle at Stamford Bridge, anger could well give way to deep concern across the Channel.
