BLUES ZERO IN ON FINAL PLACE
Tuchel’s Chelsea march on
CHELSEA ............ PORTO ...........
IT DIDN’T matter how they got there, just as long as they did.
And despite Mehdi Taremi hammering home a sublime overhead kick for Porto in added time, Chelsea cruised through 2-1 on aggregate.
Thomas Tuchel wouldn’t have cared much because Chelsea are now into the semi-finals and a step closer to achieving his lofty targets.
The Blues boss said: “Part of the performance is to not let the other team perform and we did this today.
“Until the lucky shot in the last minute we did not concede any chances. We missed some counter-attacks and some touches in the final third to create a little more but we are a young team.
“It was a pleasure to watch the fight and be on the sideline with them to see them through.”
Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012 when the club was in a mess, Roberto Di Matteo was caretaker-boss and it was far from being a vintage season. They are in better shape now.
They pulled off a shock back then and you wouldn’t bet against them doing it again this time because they’re just riding the crest of a wave under Tuchel.
He has made them hard to beat, is getting the best out of his players and, having done the hard part in the first leg, this was all about just completing the job.
It was scrappy and not very entertaining yet that is exactly the way Tuchel would have liked it. The last thing he wanted was to offer the away side a way back into the tie and they kept the Portuguese champions at arm’s length until injury time.
The only nervous moment in the first half came when Chelsea keeper Edouard Mendy’s poor clearance fell straight to Jesus Manuel Corona and the Porto midfielder saw his effort charged down by Jorginho.
Porto showed signs of life as sub Taremi saw a header well saved by Mendy in 65 minutes – their first effort on target.
And out of the blue Taremi gave them something to remember with a fantastic late strike. But Chelsea were still able to cruise into their first Champions League semi-final in seven years.