Chelsea was not quite good enough to win this Champions League match, and they will regret their anticipated goal advantage over Paris Saint-Germain.
Despite having a better xG (0.90-1.57), Liam Rosenior’s team lost the opening leg 5-2. Bradley Barcola’s incredible finish on his “weak” foot, an outstanding Ousmane Dembélé goal, a great Vitinha lob after an error by Filip Jorgensen, an extraordinary curler from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and another from the Georgian were all highlights.
Mamadou Sarr’s turn came on Wednesday night after Jorgensen shot himself in the foot during the first leg. Sarr failed to control the ball and let Kvaratskhelia convert past Robert Sanchez, who had been quickly substituted for Jorgensen against Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday.
After just six minutes at Stamford Bridge, ‘Kvaradona’ scored across goal to make it 6-2 on aggregate because Sarr’s balance was off and he transferred most of his weight toward the near post. The Spanish custodian was not at fault.
Chelsea should have sacked Liam Rosenior at half-time
After the first leg in France last week, the Blues were already behind the reigning champions by three goals. On Tuesday night, though, they had a terrible start at Stamford Bridge. After five minutes and fourteen seconds, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored the quickest goal Chelsea has ever given up at home during the Champions League knockout rounds.
Eight minutes later, Bradley Barcola added a second to further exacerbate Rosenior’s mounting problems. Consequently, with more than an hour left in the match, the home team was behind PSG 5-2 on aggregate. Jennings demanded that the club cut ties with Rosenior because the way they were about to go was too much for him.
He posted on X, social media, saying, “This joke of a manager would be fired at halftime if we were still a club with standards.” At halftime, hundreds of spectators were observed departing the stadium. Senny Mayulu’s third goal in the second half added insult to injury for PSG, who won 8-2 on aggregate.
With this result, Chelsea has conceded eight goals in a two-leg match, both domestically and in Europe for the first time in club history. Additionally, it is equal to the team’s worst overall European loss, which occurred in 2020 during a 7-1 Champions League final 16 loss to Bayern Munich.
