Our 3️⃣ points as Chelsea bag a precious away goal against Atlético | OneFootball

Chelsea put in a professional away performance to narrowly overcome Atlético Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.

Here are three things we took away from the game in Bucharest …

Checkmate Chelsea

For most of the evening, this match resembled a game of chess, and not a very good one at that.

Diego Simeone set Atleti up to stifle their opponents but he will have been disappointed by how little they created.

Indeed, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy didn’t have a single shot to save, and Simeone’s frustration earned him a yellow card in the second half.

We expected a bit more from the side who are currently top of LaLiga and who started this match with Luis Suárez and João Félix up front, but their best chance fell to Thomas Lemar early doors, and they never really looked like scoring thereafter.

This tie is far from over, but the Rojiblancos will have to play a lot more expansively if they’re to turn things around at Stamford Bridge in a few weeks.

Doubting Thomas

“I was not happy with his attitude, energy and counter-pressing.”

Those were Thomas Tuchel’s words to explain why he took Callum Hudson-Odoi off just 31 minutes after bringing him on as a substitute against Southampton on Saturday.

And that public dressing down proved to be something of a masterstroke as the 20-year-old started this match and put in a performance full of vigour.

Maybe Hudson-Odoi felt he had a point to prove, or maybe Tuchel is a better man-manager behind closed doors. Either way, it had the desired effect.

And those who worried Chelsea’s young stars perhaps wouldn’t get as many chances under Tuchel as they did under Frank Lampard are looking pretty silly right now.

Mason Mount started this game and was arguably Chelsea’s best player with a performance that was full of clever movement and intelligent passing.

Make that eight games, zero defeats and still only two goals conceded in all competitions since the German took charge.

The Blues are in safe hands.

Handsome hero

But for all that young talent and all the millions invested in this squad, it was 34-year-old Olivier Giroud who proved to be the hero with a goal of supreme quality.

He may not be the greatest striker the world has ever seen, but the Frenchman is so reliable and he contributes goals a lot more often than not.

His strike here was superbly taken and placed to perfection, giving one of the best goalkeepers in the world little chance of keeping it out.

And thankfully VAR was there to overturn the original offside decision and spot that Mario Hermoso had actually touched the ball before it reached Giroud.

That’s what the technology is there for, and that’s what Giroud is there for too.