The much-anticipated champions league week is here again and as expected there were a couple of exciting fixtures that took place. The main talking points is that both Chelsea and Sevilla have qualified from the group and are now in the round of 16. Chelsea locked horn against Rennes and Mendy faced his old teammates and old club. Rennes vs Chelsea was a fixture the Chelsea fans looked up to as they knew that a win is all that is needed to see them through to the next round. It was a very difficult game against a Rennes team who hasn’t won a single game yet in this competition and were seriously looking for their first win. On paper, Chelsea were clearly the favorites to get the job done, but as we all know in football, what is on paper doesn’t matter, only what happens on the pitch matters. By no means was this game an easy game for Chelsea, this was one of those games that could have gone south if it was the previous season.
Chelsea put themselves in front after missing a glorious chance earlier in the game. Hudson-Odoi gave Chelsea the lead on the 22nd minute, running onto a superb over-the-top through ball from Mason Mount. After that goal, Chelsea werent able to do anything major from then on. They had control of a lot of the game, but they allowed Rennes to grow into the game and have control of a lot of moments in the game. All thanks to Mendy and some very good defending, Chelsea were able to withstand some of the pressure Rennes brought to the table. Rennes finally got their deserved goal late in the game – Serhou Guirassy equalized for Rennes on the 85th minute. At this point, a draw wouldn’t have been a bad result if the Sevilla game ended in a draw as well, however, Chelsea needed to win to secure qualification. The ever reliable Giroud comes to the rescue with a late winner to help Chelsea qualify from the group. With Sevilla winning as well, this win became even more crucial for Chelsea.
Sevilla were in a very similar situation like Chelsea, going into their match as the favorites to win on paper, however, the match didn’t really pan out as expected for them as it was a very difficult match for them as well. Sevilla got the early lead on the 4th minute – Ivan Rackitic scored the first goal for Sevilla and a lot of people thought that it was going to be an easy ride for Sevilla. Just like the Chelsea game, Sevilla wasn’t able to do anything major all through the first half. The second began and Krasnodar began to grow in confidence. Their efforts was finally rewarded with a goal early in the second half. Nothing major was happening and the game was looking like it was heading for a draw. Munir came to the rescue for Sevilla to score the winning goal on the 90+5 minute. A very important win that puts them through to the next round.