‘SUPER HUNGRY’ BLUES
Chelsea cruise into Champions League quarter-finals as Ziyech sinks Atletico
THOMAS Tuchel said “super hungry” Chelsea have their sights set on reaching the Champions League final after Hakim Ziyech ended his goal drought to inspire a 2-0 win against Atletico Madrid in the last-16 second leg on Wednesday.
Morocco forward Ziyech grabbed his first goal since October to put the hosts ahead in the first half at Stamford Bridge.
Emerson came off the bench to score the late goal that sealed a comfortable 3-0 aggregate victory over the lacklustre La Liga leaders.
Adding to Atletico’s misery, Stefan Savic was sent off in the closing stages for elbowing Antonio Rudiger in the stomach.
While Chelsea were the superior side for long periods, Atletico could justifiably claim they should have had a penalty for Cesar Azpilicueta’s challenge on Yannick Carrasco when the score was still 0-0.
Tuchel admitted it could have been a penalty, saying: “Azpi got a bit frightened because his ball was short, I was a bit frightened as well.”
But Atletico boss Diego Simeone added: “We are not looking for excuses. We were beaten by a better team. We tried to press them up the field, but couldn’t attack the way we like.”
That was the only major scare for Chelsea as they extended their unbeaten run to 13 matches since Tuchel replaced the sacked Frank Lampard in January.
Tuchel boasts the longest ever unbeaten start by a Chelsea boss after moving past Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Revitalised by Tuchel, Chelsea have conceded just two goals in his brief reign and are on a run of six consecutive clean sheets in all competitions.
“A very good performance, unbelievable effort. I could feel we totally wanted it,” said Tuchel.
“We enjoyed the battle. The guys were totally on and sharp. We were super hungry to go through.”
Leading Chelsea into the last eight for the first time since 2014 is another feather in Tuchel’s cap as the German eyes a return to the Champions League final following his defeat with Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich last season.
“They play with a special bond. Fixtures and results like this give you a certain edge to achieve special things. I’m pretty sure no-one wants to play against us,” Tuchel added.
“Quarter-final means there’s only four games (until the final). It’s a big step and feels excellent.”
Chelsea, Champions League winners for the only time in 2012, had been eliminated in the first knockout stage in their last four appearances.
IT’S back to the drawing board for newly-appointed national weightlifting coach Naharudin Mahayudin as his charges have no chance of qualifying for this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
Naharudin, the first local to take charge of the national team in more than a decade, admitted that it would be impossible for Malaysia to have an athlete in weightlifting at the Olympics.
Hafifi Mansor was Malaysia’s representative at the 2016 Rio edition. The qualifiers for weightlifting events at the Olympics is based on world rankings. The qualifying period ends next month.
The 37-year-old is now shifting his focus on preparing his weightlifters for this year’s Vietnam Sea Games and next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
“Our lifters have not been competing in competitions since March last year due to the coronavirus.
“We are still not allowed to compete overseas, so there is no way to earn ranking points,” said Naharudin after the Sea Games selection committee meeting at Wisma OCM in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
“I think it is better to focus on other competitions. Our target is the Commonwealth Games, as we have been contributing gold medals regularly.”
Malaysia have never failed to return with at least a gold from the Commonwealth Games since the 1998 Kuala Lumpur edition.
In the 2018 Gold Coast edition, Malaysia won two titles through Azroy Nazalwafie (56kg) and Aznil Bidin (62kg) under Chinese coach Wang Shiquan.
The lifters will compete in their first international meet in more than a year at the Commonwealth Championships in Singapore in October.
“We will use the meet to select lifters for the Sea Games and the Commonwealth Games. We do not have much time, and this makes me restless.
“However, I will do my best to prepare my lifters,” he added.
The Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) are planning to organise an internal meet in Rompin next month and the National Championships before June.