There
have been tougher days for Antonio Conte at Chelsea but as his grimacing
and cursing turned to momentary despair you could tell that the man who
leaves nothing to chance felt that he might just have made a mistake in
failing to claim top spot in his Champions League group.
Second place in Group C means that Chelsea will face one from Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Besiktas and possibly Sevilla if they top Liverpool’s group on Wednesday night which is quite an array of opposition lying in wait. Roma are the group winners and Conte’s team might have lost this game, coming from behind after Saul Niguez had capitalised on some indifferent marking at a corner to plunder a second-half goal.
"It's not a problem who we get,” Eden Hazard said afterwards with the kind of attitude that only the most absurdly gifted footballers in the world can have. “We are a top team too,” he said. “We can do anything." He is right in that when he is on his game it looks like Chelsea can do anything and it was Hazard’s twinkling feet that brought his side back into the game and very nearly won it for them against Diego Simeone’s players.
Second place in Group C means that Chelsea will face one from Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Besiktas and possibly Sevilla if they top Liverpool’s group on Wednesday night which is quite an array of opposition lying in wait. Roma are the group winners and Conte’s team might have lost this game, coming from behind after Saul Niguez had capitalised on some indifferent marking at a corner to plunder a second-half goal.
Afterwards Conte made the
argument that first or second makes little difference – with first place
yielding the possibility of facing Real Madrid, Juventus or Bayern
Munich - but there is something that feels reassuring about top spot. It
is the best place to start the knockout stages of the competition in
February, however hard the draw might be and it confirms in the minds of
the players that they should be the favourites for the quarter-finals.
"It's not a problem who we get,” Eden Hazard said afterwards with the kind of attitude that only the most absurdly gifted footballers in the world can have. “We are a top team too,” he said. “We can do anything." He is right in that when he is on his game it looks like Chelsea can do anything and it was Hazard’s twinkling feet that brought his side back into the game and very nearly won it for them against Diego Simeone’s players.
The
Belgian had been sending defenders in the wrong direction for most of
the night before he flitted down the left on 75 minutes and stroked in
the cross that the former Manchester City defender Stefan Savic put into
his own goal. There were chances to win it in the closing stages when
first Alvaro Morata and then his replacement Michy Batshuayi could not
beat Jan Oblak and the Chelsea manager was left to berate his own bench
in frustration.
When he looks back on their Champions League progress this year, Conte will know that it was Chelsea’s chastening 3-0 defeat in Rome on Halloween that was the root of this minor group stage malfunction that has left them second and worrying about their opponents in the knockout round.
Starting for Atletico Madrid was Fernando Torres, back at Stamford Bridge for one more time, bidding a fond second half farewell with an ovation from the Chelsea fans who liked his unstinting effort but could hardly pretend that they missed him. The absence that loomed over both sides was Diego Costa, who cannot play for Atletico until he is registered in January and will never play for another team managed by Conte.
When he looks back on their Champions League progress this year, Conte will know that it was Chelsea’s chastening 3-0 defeat in Rome on Halloween that was the root of this minor group stage malfunction that has left them second and worrying about their opponents in the knockout round.
Starting for Atletico Madrid was Fernando Torres, back at Stamford Bridge for one more time, bidding a fond second half farewell with an ovation from the Chelsea fans who liked his unstinting effort but could hardly pretend that they missed him. The absence that loomed over both sides was Diego Costa, who cannot play for Atletico until he is registered in January and will never play for another team managed by Conte.
As Roma
prevailed 1-0 against the Azerbaijan side Qarabag to win the group, so
Atletico slipped into the Europa League. Simeone is still heading and
kicking imaginary footballs throughout games and his old friend and
assistant German Burgos is still pulling him away from rows with the
fourth official. Even so this feels like the last knockings of a fine
Atletico side that have at times defied the duopoly of Spain’s biggest
clubs and twice gone close to winning the Champions League.
They knocked out Chelsea in 2014 and over the years they have had success while losing many of their best players with every chance that Antoine Griezmann will be among them next summer, although this was a mediocre performance by his standards. Atletico were 30 minutes late arriving and the official team sheet had them two players short of a regulation seven substitutes.
They knocked out Chelsea in 2014 and over the years they have had success while losing many of their best players with every chance that Antoine Griezmann will be among them next summer, although this was a mediocre performance by his standards. Atletico were 30 minutes late arriving and the official team sheet had them two players short of a regulation seven substitutes.
Torres
was back at Stamford Bridge for the first time since he played 17
minutes as a substitute against Norwich City in May 2014. In the end he
claimed the assist for Saul’s goal. The 33-year-old occasionally seemed
to be afflicted with the strange indecision that affected him when he
was struggling through three and a half fraught years at Chelsea, then
as the British game’s most expensive footballer.
Chelsea created limited chances in the first half: a shot from Davide Zappacosta that almost wrong-footed Jan Oblak, and a volley from Alvaro Morata that was pushed over the bar by the Slovenian. In midfield N’golo Kante was the usual master of the tackle and the breakaway, generally keeping Atletico’s counter-attacking at bay. As it was, Atletico had marginally more of the ball in the first half.
Having looked as if they might be building up to something in the first half, Chelsea were much less impressive after the break. There was a run from Hazard that left the defenders Savic and Jose Maria Gimenez going to the wrong place, but once again nothing to show for it all at the end while Atletico bided their time and awaited the breakthrough.
Chelsea created limited chances in the first half: a shot from Davide Zappacosta that almost wrong-footed Jan Oblak, and a volley from Alvaro Morata that was pushed over the bar by the Slovenian. In midfield N’golo Kante was the usual master of the tackle and the breakaway, generally keeping Atletico’s counter-attacking at bay. As it was, Atletico had marginally more of the ball in the first half.
Having looked as if they might be building up to something in the first half, Chelsea were much less impressive after the break. There was a run from Hazard that left the defenders Savic and Jose Maria Gimenez going to the wrong place, but once again nothing to show for it all at the end while Atletico bided their time and awaited the breakthrough.
Before
Torres came off his dedication to the cause had seen him head a corner
from Koke into no-mans’-land at the back post. It was chiefly unoccupied
by a blue shirt because Tiemoue Bakayoko had failed to track the run of
Saul who had a free header to guide in past Courtois.
It forced Conte to respond and he brought on first Pedro, for the culpable Bakayoko, and then Willian. Christensen had a header saved by Oblak from Cesc Fabregas’ cross. It was another Fabregas cross that led to the equaliser, this time from the right. The ball was cleared as far as Hazard on the edge of the box and he darted in, struck a ball across goal which Savic inadvertently turned past Oblak. No-one could deliver a fraught Conte the winner, and for the first time in a while he had to settle for second.
It forced Conte to respond and he brought on first Pedro, for the culpable Bakayoko, and then Willian. Christensen had a header saved by Oblak from Cesc Fabregas’ cross. It was another Fabregas cross that led to the equaliser, this time from the right. The ball was cleared as far as Hazard on the edge of the box and he darted in, struck a ball across goal which Savic inadvertently turned past Oblak. No-one could deliver a fraught Conte the winner, and for the first time in a while he had to settle for second.
Line-ups
Chelsea
- 13Thibaut Courtois
- 28César Azpilicueta
- 27Andreas Christensen
- 24Gary Cahill
- 15Victor Moses
- 21Davide Zappacosta
- 7N'Golo Kanté
- 4Cesc Fàbregas
- 14Tiemoué Bakayoko
- 10Eden Hazard
- 9Álvaro Morata
Substitutes
- 22Willian
- 11Pedro
- 23Michy Batshuayi
Atlético de Madrid
- 13Jan Oblak
- 3Filipe Luis
- 15Stefan Savic
- 24José Giménez
- 19Lucas Hernández
- 6Koke
- 8Saúl Ñíguez
- 5Thomas Partey
- 14Gabi
- 7Antoine Griezmann
- 9Fernando Torres
Substitutes
- 17Luciano Vietto
- 10Yannick Carrasco
- 11Ángel Correa
Eden Hazard speaks
The only problem, the goalkeeper was on fire. We should score more goals, win the game, finish first in the group. It’s not a problem [next opponents], we are Chelsea. We are a top team, so we can face any team. We can do everything.
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