Giroud head over heels in Bucharest
0 1 Frenchman gets acrobatic to give Tuchel’s men edge
OLIVIER GIROUD produced another Champions League special to hand Chelsea the advantage in their last-16 tie with Atletico Madrid after a 1-0 first-leg win in Bucharest.
The Blues forward grabbed his sixth goal in the competition this season with an overhead kick in the 68th minute but it was only awarded after a lengthy VAR review.
It was thoroughly deserved for Thomas Tuchel’s side, who dominated for large parts and extended their unbeaten run under the German to eight games since his arrival on January 26.
A negative was bookings for Mason Mount and Jorginho, which rules them out of the second leg, but Atletico boss Diego Simeone knows his team will need to score at least twice next month to go through in normal time.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was a surprise name in the Blues starting line-up for this tie hosted in Romania due to coronavirus travel restrictions enforced by the Spanish government.
The England international had lasted only 31 minutes following his half-time introduction at Southampton on Saturday, but manager Tuchel played the youngster at right wing-back.
Chelsea’s night started on a poor note when inside 60 seconds Mount was booked for a foul on Joao Felix, meaning he will be suspended for the second leg at Stamford Bridge next month.
Edouard Mendy almost contrived to pile more misery on the visitors after a heavy touch in the penalty area but Saul was unable to make the most of the goalkeeper’s mistake.
After early pressure from Atletico, including a dangerous Luis Suarez centre across the face of goal, the Premier League side started to dominate possession and a long-range effort from Marcos Alonso represented the first shot on target from either side.
It was routine for Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who had gone seven matches without a clean sheet and was forced into more strenuous action six minutes before the break as Timo Werner’s strike from a tight angle was well saved.
Goalless at the interval, Simeone would have been the happier of the two managers with numerous absentees including England fullback Kieran Trippier due to suspension.
Not long after Suarez saw an effort deflected wide by Andreas Christensen, Joao Felix fired an overhead kick off target following Cesar Azpilicueta’s poor headed clearance in a sign Atleti were set to be more adventurous in this half.
Jorginho became the second Chelsea player to be ruled out of the second leg in the 64th minute when he brought down Joao Felix, but four minutes later the away side were able to break the deadlock in style.
Alonso got forward well and his cross was deflected into the path of Giroud, who produced a superb overhead kick from 12 yards which beat Oblak and found the bottom corner. It was immediately ruled out for offside, but after a lengthy VAR review it was adjudged Atletico centre-back Mario Hermoso had got the decisive final touch.
Giroud’s 11th goal of the season and sixth in this competition gave Chelsea a away goal in the tie and Tuchel reacted instantly with the introduction of N’Golo Kante and Hakim Ziyech with 16 minutes left.
Reece James followed them on to the pitch soon after, with Hudson-Odoi taken off after 80 minutes on this occasion.
While Atletico pushed for an equaliser, Simeone made the surprise decision to take off Joao Felix and they suffered a second consecutive defeat.
It gives Chelsea the upper hand ahead of the return leg at Stamford Bridge on March 17, where the Blues will aim to make the quarter-finals for the first time in seven years.
Elsewhere, Jamal Musiala became the youngest English scorer in the Champions League as holders Bayern Munich thrashed Lazio in Rome.
The 17-year-old finished smartly from outside the box to also become Bayern’s youngest scorer in the competition.Robert Lewandowski opened the scoring with his 72nd goal to overtake Raul as the tournament’s thirdhighest scorer. Leroy Sane added a third and then forced an own goal, before Lazio responded through Joaquin Correa.
CHRIS HARRIS says that Scotland have parked the disappointment of their home loss to Wales and are still targeting a top-of-thetable finish in this year’s Six Nations. The outside centre added that the team are fully focussed on Sunday’s round three clash against unbeaten France in Paris and won’t be distracted by the Covid outbreak in the opposition camp which has thrown the match into uncertainty.
“Why not?” the 30-year-old replied, when asked if a first championship success since 1999 is a realistic target. “After we beat England away, it was a case of: ‘We can do this!’ We’ve then gone close against Wales. We’re obviously not focusing too far ahead, but if we can beat France then we’ve got two home games to come, so it’s a good opportunity for us.
“We’re ready for it, we’re feeling good and we’re playing well,” he added. “I think that’s quite exciting.
“It’s a big game for us because if we go over there and we win, it puts us in a real good spot to win the comp. Everyone believes it. We’ve just got to go out there and do the job. That’s why we’re keen for this game to go ahead. That’s literally all our focus.”
The last time Scotland won in France was, funnily enough, in that 1999 championship winning year, which gives an indication of how tough it will be. But Gregor Townsend’s team have got into a happy habit of breaking long losing streaks in recent months, beating both Wales and England away from home for the first time in 18 and 36 years respectively, and Harris sees no reason why they can’t now make it hat-trick.
“I’ve never actually played in Paris, so I don’t know what it’s like, but we’re playing in empty stadiums at the moment so it’s probably going to be similar to playing at all the other empty stadiums,” he said. “We are full of confidence and we all believe that we can win the Championship.
A decision will be made tonight on whether or not the game can be played on Sunday, but Harris insisted that he won’t be anxiously awaiting that update.
“It’s a weird one, there’s not been any doubt in my mind this game is going ahead,” he said. “That might just be me, I don’t know, but I’m not thinking about anything else other than going over to France and playing rugby. I’m not worried about it not going ahead. If you do that, then you won’t prepare properly.
If Sunday’s game is pushed back a week – as has been mooted – then it will be taking place outside World Rugby’s designated international window, meaning any Scotland squad member who plays their club rugby in England could be blocked by their club from taking part. Harris, who plays for Gloucester, so is one of the 12 players who could be affected.
If he were to miss out on his 26th cap as a result of this, it would be a bitter pill to swallow, but he would be helpless to do anything about it.
“That’s out of my control,” he shrugged. “You do as you’re told, effectively. I think the laws are in place to avoid those kinds of awkward conversations, but it’s up to Gregor and George Skivington [head coach at Gloucester] .
“I would be pretty upset,” he added. “I want to play for Scotland, I want to play for my country, so I’d be pretty devastated on a personal level.”
It would be a blow to Harris personally, and a blow to Scotland as a team, because after an inauspicious start to his international career, he has developed into a key figure in the squad, as both a leader in defence and an increasingly dangerous running threat.
His first international start was in the 34-7 hammering by Wales at the start of the 2018 Six Nations, and he didn’t feature again during that campaign, but has now played in all of Scotland’s last six matches stretching back to the final World Cup warmup match against Georgia in September 2016.
“It’s been a really good run for me personally,” he agreed. “I was maybe a little bit of a slow-burner to start with, I don’t know. I was just taking that little bit of extra time to settle and grow in confidence. That next step up from playing club rugby to internationals in front of 60,000, or 80,000 that day in Wales, is a big step.”
If we can beat France then we’ve got two home games to come