CHIESA MAKES CHELSEA PAY
Toothless Blues are punished in Turin
JUVENTUS 1 Chiesa 46 CHELSEA 0
WHAT constitutes a crisis at Chelsea? Two defeats in a row? Three? It is, of course, a ridiculous assertion — but that’s life at Stamford Bridge and Thomas Tuchel knows exactly what he signed up to.
Defeat here in Turin isn’t necessarily the end of the world. They should emerge out of their Champions League group with minimum fuss.
But after Saturday’s feeble loss to Manchester City, losing to Juventus last night — and certainly the manner of the defeat — is bound to get tongues wagging.
Is it all unravelling? Have they lost their mojo? Why hasn’t Romelu Lukaku scored in his last four appearances?
History tells us things can escalate rather quickly at Chelsea. This defeat in Italy will only serve to turn the pressure levels up a notch or two.
Tuchel is level-headed enough to know how it works. Victory at Southampton on Saturday and they’ll be back on track.
But for the next few days, at least, Tuchel and Chelsea will have to take it on the chin.
They got what they deserved here — but for a bright opening 10 minutes and a late rally they were never really at the races.
Tuchel’s team selection made for interesting reading — not a single Englishman in his starting XI for the first time since taking over in January.
Their start was indicative of a team intent on taking the bull by the horns. Their passing was fluent and crisp, particularly down the left where Marcos Alonso and Hakim Ziyech were providing Danilo with all sorts of problems.
Their first chance arrived in the seventh minute, Lukaku miscuing his first-time shot from Alonso’s clever corner.
A crisper connection and Chelsea would have been ahead. You wondered if the missed opportunity would play on the Belgian’s mind. His record against Juve heading into this game didn’t make for encouraging reading — just one goal in his six games against Italian football’s ‘Old Lady’.
Had Adrien Rabiot not uncharacteristically bungled a simple pass into Federico Bernardeschi’s path to goal during a rapid Juventus counter-attack in the 16th minute, then Lukaku would have been made to rue that earlier miss even more.
Likewise, had Federico Chiesa found the target after Mateo Kovacic dangerously lost possession then Chelsea would have been playing catch-up.
All of a sudden Juve had found their swagger and Chelsea were second best all over the park. Their early intensity had promptly disappeared.
Rabiot hit a vicious effort narrowly over the bar in the 30th minute before Bernardeschi fired a dangerous freekick into the wall following wondrous work from the impressive Chiesa.
By now Tuchel just wanted to get his team inside. For all their early encouragement, Chelsea were on the ropes by the time Jesus Gil Manzano blew up for half-time.
Yet this represented a tough balancing act for Chelsea; a draw here by no means a poor result. So the question for Tuchel heading into the second half was simple: stick or twist?
As for Juve, the closing stages of the first half offered them enough encouragement to believe victory was within their grasp.
Chiesa, in particular, was a sight to behold. Now Cristiano Ronaldo has gone, this supremely talented 23-year-old is Juve’s star turn.
So it was no real surprise that it was the Italy international who fired Massimiliano Allegri’s men into the lead just 11 seconds after the restart. The ball into his path from Bernardeschi was played to perfection, the finish was emphatic — Chiesa firing ruthlessly past Edouard Mendy before he could even blink. If Chelsea were on the ropes at the end of the first half, they were on the canvas by now. Having introduced left back Ben Chilwell into the game in place of Alonso — a clear sign of Tuchel’s dissatisfaction at Chelsea’s first half — the German watched his plans go up in smoke before he even had time to take his seat. Juve were rampant and Chiesa was at the heart of it all. Chelsea were clinging on for dear life. Bernardeschi squandered a glorious opportunity to double the Italians’ lead in the 64th minute after being superbly assisted by former Blues man Juan Cuadrado. By this point, Tuchel had made a triple substitution — Trevoh Chalobah, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek all entering the fold. Ross Barkley was next to be brought on, meaning Chelsea now had five Englishmen on the field having started with none.
And, to be fair, Chelsea were far better for the homegrown presence. Hudson-Odoi’s cross was met by Lukaku, but the Belgian’s header was off target.
Indeed, it was a frustrating night for the £97.5million striker — he missed another opportunity in the 83rd minute, blazing wildly over after brilliantly rolling Leonardo Bonucci as Chelsea’s night ended in deflation. JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Szczesny 7; Danilo 6.5, Bonucci 7.5, De Ligt 7, Sandro 7; Cuadrado 7, Bentancur 7 (Chiellini 83min), Locatelli 7, Rabiot 6.5 (McKennie 77); CHIESA 8.5 (Kean 77), Bernardeschi 7 (Kulusevski 65, 6). Scorer: Chiesa 46. Booked: Cuadrado. Manager: Massimiliano Allegri 7.
CHELSEA (3-4-2-1): Mendy 6.5; Christensen 6.5 (Barkley 75, 6), Silva 6.5, Rudiger 6.5; Azpilicueta 5.5 (Loftus-Cheek 62, 6), Jorginho 6 (Chalobah 62, 6), Kovacic 6.5, Alonso 5.5 (Chilwell 46, 6); Ziyech 6 (Hudson-Odoi 62, 6), Havertz 6; Lukaku 6. Booked: Alonso, Ziyech, Rudiger. Manager: Thomas Tuchel 6. Referee: Jesus Gil Manzano (Sp) 6.5. Attendance: 19,934.