Chelsea, Bayern book places in UCL quarter-finals

March 17, 2021 11:35 pm

Chelsea advanced to the quarter-final of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) following a 2-0 second-leg victory over ten-man Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

Hakim Ziyech’s first-half strike and Emerson Palmieri’s injury-time goal helped the Blues complete the double over Atletico who lost by a lone goal in the first leg played in Spain.

Atlético have now lost four UCL matches against Chelsea, the highest against a single team they have faced.

Chelsea also extended their record of qualifying after winning the first leg away from home to 14 games.

Needing to score in this match, Diego Simeone’s Atletico made the first attack with Lodi’s tame shot easily gathered by Eduoard Mendy in Chelsea goal.

Chelsea however regained the upper hand and went close through Marco Alonso and Timo Werner, but Atletico were left reeling as neither the referee nor the VAR team punished Cesar Azpilicueta for a cynical shirt tug on Yannick Carrasco as the winger tried to pounce on a poor back pass.

While Simeone was on the prowl in the dugout, Chelsea pounced on the pitch on a devastating counterattack which was finished off by Ziyech for his third goal since joining Chelsea on 34 minutes.

Tomas Tuchel’s men carried more attacking threats and went close to doubling their lead early in the second period but Jan Oblak denied Werner from an acute angle.

It took until the 76th minute for Atletico to produce a meaningful chance but Mendy denied a subdued Joao Felix and the mercurial Portuguese forward also shot wide minutes later.

Athletico then lost Stefan Savic, a defender, to a red card for elbowing Anthony Rudiger with nine minutes left. A theatrical fall from the experienced Chelsea man sealed Savic’s fate and the home side added gloss to victory through Emerson Palmieri deep into stoppage time.

In the other match of the night, Bayern Munich, the UCL champions, also sealed passage to the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over Lazio. Robert Lewandowski’s 33rd-minute penalty and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s strikes added to the German treble winners’ four goals from the first leg.

All quarter-finalists would know their opponents in Friday’s draws to be held in Zurich, Switzerland.

RESULTS