Chelsea suffered a 3-0 hammering at the hands of AS Roma in the Champions League last night. Roma now move above a lackluster Chelsea to the top of the group, and are now firm favourites to qualify from Group C.
It wasn’t just the scoreline that will send shockwaves throughout Europe, but the performance, too. There has been question marks about the Chelsea camp this season and how the players are fed up with Antonio Conte’s training methods, and this performance will only add more fuel to the fire.
Man of the match Stephan El Shaarawy took full advantage of Chelsea’s negligent defending to score a brace in the first half and put the Italians in a commanding lead.
El Shaarawy unleashes a half-volley to put Roma up after 39 seconds
His first goal came after just 39 seconds. A long ball to the edge of the area hit Roma striker Dzeko and bounced back into the path of the advancing Shaaraway who hit an unbelievable first-time half-volley on the outside of his right foot from 25 yards into the roof of the net, to leave the Chelsea keeper no chance.
It was an explosive start and it lit the tempo for the whole match. Chelsea should have equalized shortly after through Eden Hazard. Cesc Fabregas dinked a ball over the top of Roma’s defence and Hazard ran on and probably took one touch too many before hitting a bumbling shot straight at the Roma keeper.
And then Roma tried to match Chelsea in the careless defending stakes, which led to a glorious opportunity for Morata to score from just six yards out, but the Spaniard somehow skied his effort, and the Roma defence breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
An excellent performance saw Roma almost secure a spot in the knock-out phase
It was an open game and the next goal was always going to be decisive. It came from more heedless Chelsea defending. An innocent lofted pass was played into the penalty area, and Rudiger should have just kicked it out of play, but the German let it bounce. Once again, it landed kindly for El Shaarawy who latched onto it to slip the ball past Thibaut Courtois and into the net. 2-0 Roma.
Chelsea were creating chances and the score line might not have reflected the flow of the game, but errors had cost them and they were chasing the game, and it was an error that led to the third Roma goal, too.
Fabregas gave the ball away on the halfway line and the home side quickly countered. Coming from the left with about 30 yards to goal Diego Perotti unleashed a low effort into the bottom corner to leave Courtois with no chance and Chelsea down and out. 3-0 Roma.
Man of the match Stephan El Shaarawy
Chelsea seemed to play damage limitation football after going 3 down, and showed no urgency in clawing it back. This invited the Italians to attack more, and they were unlucky not to score more. Perotti fired a shot over the bar, again after some questionable Chelsea defending and then Kostas Manolas had a point-blank header saved by Courtois.
Roma will be delighted with the performance and only need one point from their remaining 2 games. It’s been an impressive start to the season from the Italians and no team will cherish facing them in the knock-out phase.
Chelsea's defending was to blame for all 3 goals
For Chelsea, it was a shocking night. Their manager’s future will come under increased scrutiny after this defensive mishap. After the fantastic flowing football the Blues were delivering last season to suddenly be so inefficient is quite alarming. Luckily for Antonio Conte Chelsea are still in a strong position in Group C as Atletico could only muster a draw at home to Qarabag. However, Roman Abramovich will be sharpening the guillotine.
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