This week, the knockout stages of the Champions League were terrible for the English. Aside from Newcastle who held off FC Barcelona (1-1) and Arsenal who snatched a draw against Bayer Leverkusen (1-1), the four other teams involved lost. Liverpool cracked against Galatasaray (1-0) when Tottenham and Manchester City sank in Madrid against Atlético (5-2) and Real (3-0). This Wednesday, Chelsea also suffered a heavy defeat against Paris Saint-Germain (5-2). If the Blues were not ridiculous and seemed to hold the draw for a long time, a lob from Vitinha and a double from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia made the mission much more complicated for the London club.
“We have nothing left to lose”
With a three-goal deficit next Tuesday when they return to Stamford Bridge, the Blues will have to put out a big performance to turn things around. Aware that the evening’s performance was not sufficient, Wesley Fofana underlined this at the microphone of Canal+ : “At this level, we have no right to make this kind of mistake. Last goal, it’s the end of the match, there’s a little crowd movement, we’re no longer in the match, we’re going to press, we take the fifth, it hurts even more. We still make too many mistakes, they punished us, it’s a great team. They showed it this evening, every time we made a mistake, they punished us.»
If this evening disappointment predominates for the French defender and his teammates, Wesley Fofana quickly switched to a more positive speech and hopes to see another face displayed on the London side in six days: “we are very disappointed this evening. We are not hiding, we took a lot of risks. Tonight, we pay for it, we train every day to make as few mistakes as possible, but it’s a game where we all agree to take this risk, but tonight they punished us, they defended well, they pressed very well, we will try to correct that and learn from our mistakes.» While Chelsea must recover from a three-goal deficit, Wesley Fofana believes in it and that is not incongruous. Less than a year ago in the Club World Cup final, Chelsea beat Paris Saint-Germain in the final with a score of 3-0. A result which could allow the Blues to stay alive. “No, as long as there is a return match, there is hope. We are at home, there are three goals to score to go into overtime. We have nothing left to lose, we have three goals to score and we will do everything to qualify», Confided the former Stéphanois in a spirit of revolt.
“They had 0.8 xG and scored five goals”
A little later, his coach Liam Rosenior returned to the crazy end to the match which cost his team dearly. “We didn’t respond well to a setback. At 3-2 we are tied. Then Kvaratskhelia scores an incredible goal and this is what happens. At this level, the quality of the players on both sides. We are on the verge of 3-3. The fifth goal after a decisive moment. We don’t keep a cool head at this point. We couldn’t keep our cool. They broke our pressure and scored a fifth goal. This makes the return very difficult, but it is not impossible”he declared, before mentioning the many risks taken by his goalkeeper Jorgensen. Risks that ended up costing a goal.
“Every way to play has risks. You can make a long pass and the ball comes straight back into your net. You can build. This is the risk we take. I take responsibility for it. I am responsible for it. It’s a shame, because thanks to these build-up moments we have more control of the game. Somehow they had 0.8 xG and scored five goals. It’s really very difficult to accept. We don’t have much time to digest this. We have to get back on the plane, prepare for Newcastle, then for PSG next week. It’s up to me to manage trust. You always lose confidence when you make mistakes, but we have a really good group of guys. We don’t blame each other for our mistakes, but we don’t make the same mistakes twice. At that point, as a band, that’s what happened. You had to wake up. We didn’t do it and we were punished by a good team.» The disappointment over, Chelsea are now ready for the feat at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday for the 1/8 return against Paris.
