Match Summary: It goes to the second leg once again, after a good defensive display by Mourinho’s men despite the early loss of Cech to a shoudler injury and later on Terry.Good news is that Chelsea still managed to keep a clean sheet for second leg.
John Obi Mikel & Lampard, Plus Atletico Madrid Captain Gabi are suspend for lthe second leg as both teams look forward to progressing to the finals.
FIRST HALF: The match started at Vicente Calderon with Atletico pressurizing Chelsea with offensive moves from the starting whistle. Gabi delivered a pass to Felipe Luis who headed it to Costa in the mobbed D-Box of defensive minded Chelsea. The second minute witnessed a shot on goal by Diego that was projected wide posing no threatto Cech. As Atletico resumed their wave of attacks where defensive mid duo of Suarez and Gabi combined with Juanfran and Luis then the latter exchanged passes with wingers from the extreme left side of the field. Atletico were excellently co-ordinated in keeping the ball off the visitors from London. Brazilian Diego and Suarez also got involved offensively to disrupt the Chelsea defense. The visitors were overpowered, in terms of possession and they composed a narrowly spaced midfield of five men as both of Willian and Ramires fell back. Meanwhile Mikel took position in own D-Box to shield Peter Cech. Atletico were exchanging tricky passes. The Atletico hitman Costa in the 10th minute overcame his marker Cahill and loosened the compaction of Blues with his skills and moves. From the edge of the D-Box he passed it to to Raul Garcia who was well marked by Ashley Cole as the shot flew over the bar that led to goal kick. In the 15th minute a corner taken by Koke drew a save by Cech by tipping it over the bar. The astonishingly acute goal bound shot made Cech take a leap which badly struck his shoulder against the underneath of upper goal post frame. No sooner he was about to land he was caught in a collision with Raul Garcia that unbalanced his fall and added to the shoulder injury incurred less than a second ago. Schwarzer stepped into the field as Cech’s game ended. In terms of Chelsea’s offensive strikes that were assigned to Torres, the Spaniard did not fail as he drove off Juanfran to force a corner in the 20th minute. Gary Cahill intercepted the ball but the corner was cancelled for a foul on Courtois. Then Blues defense nullified the Madrid side’s attack by playing both Raul and Costa offsides. Diego got involved more but was well shut by the stubborn defense that withstood the flanks interchanging home side. Willian and David Luiz were the only players Atletico could not get past at ease and the Brazilian duo could convincingly dribble past them despite, being outnumbered. Willian threaded a long pass from left to his compatriot Ramires who ran unmarked but miserably failed by shooting wide from a promising condition. In the 33rd minute Luiz broke free to counter attack and delivered a pass to Torres who lead a couple of Red and White striped shirts. Yet he maneuvered with beautiful baall control to receive the pass In the 37th minute Cahill made his presence felt by tackling Koke who ran past Azpilicueta after the Spaniard misjudged the ball’s direction. Four minutes later he amended the mistake by closing in on Costa as he was about to unleash a volley having chested the ball. Willian withstood the threats of Juanfran and his build up partners such as Diego and Garcia. Uriguyan center back Diego Godin fouled Torres close to the Atletico D-Box periphery but Luiz wasted the free kick at the final minute of first half.
SECOND HALF: In the 2nd minute of second half Lampard made Chelsea’s first accurate shot on goal but the angle made it easy for Courtois to grab. Seven minutes later Atletico moved with Diego feeding Koke the ball who send it to Gabi. He crossed the ball which was headed away by Cole for a corner. Barely two minutes later Diego shot on target that Schwarzer stopped after the ball fell at the former’s feet from the Aussie keeper’s interception of a right wing cross. Torres ran from the center of the field with incredible pace as he dribbled past three red and white striped shirts along very narrow channels. He should have passed the ball to any of the team mates having plenty of space to shoot. Torres overcame his markers but instead of the mentioned option he shot into the safe hands of Courtois. Turkish player Adra Turan replaced Diego whose last action saw him fire a volley directly at Schwarzer. Juanfran who has been largely active in playing right side directed crosses saw one of them strike Lampard’s arm. The result was a free kick from a dangerous position but nothing came out of it. Around the 65th minute Lampard fouled Adra in the center of Park and picked up a yellow card. Having seen it already at the 2nd leg of Quarter Final he will pay the price by missing the next match. Six minutes later Terry limped with a knock sustained from a corner thst further escalated the worries of Mourinho. Schurrle was introduced to the field at Right Wing which moved Ramires to Luiz’s place who in turn moved to center of the defense to cover for the club’s withdrawn captain. Six minutes into the swap in positions Schwarzer proved his worth by saving a Raul Garcia effort stupendously. A series of goal attempts were executed by Atletico that made the Blue’s defense work hard yet none of these attempts troubled them. A couple of these looped over to land on the roof of Chelsea’s goal post and Atletico were well resisted. In the 88th minute Cahill stopped Costa for the third time with an excellent challenge that prevented the Spaniard from heading in. A minute later Miranda pushed Torres down to the ground and from the resulting 20 yards free kick nothing came as Luiz ruined it. In the five additional minutes Atletico desparately tried to score but to no avail and Ba came in for Willian a minute from time. The final whistle was blown to end the scoreless encounter.
Chelsea: (4-3-3) Cech (Schwarzer 17); Azpilicueta, Cahill, Terry (c) (Schurrle 72), Cole; David Luiz, Mikel, Lampard; Ramires, Torres, Willian (Ba 90+3).
Unused subs: Kalas, Ake, Van Ginkel, Oscar.
Booked Lampard 63, Mikel 74.
Atletico Madrid: (4-4-1-1): Courtois; Juanfran, Miranda, Godin, Filipe Luis; Raul Garcia (Villa 85), Gabi (c), Mario Suarez (Sosa 79), Koke; Diego (Arda Turan 59); Diego Costa.
Unused subs: Aranzubia, Alderweireld, Tiago, Rodriguez.
Booked: Gabi 74, Miranda 88.
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