Giroud gets on his bike for Chelsea
We knew they were ready to suffer with eight people in the box. Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel
After his great overhead kick found the net to break the deadlock in a difficult match, all Olivier Giroud could do was wait.
And wait and wait. Giroud’s 68th-minute bicycle kick goal against Atletico Madrid was initially disallowed for offside and it took nearly three minutes for video review to reverse the call and secure Chelsea the 1-0 away win in the first leg of the round of 16 in football’s Champions League yesterday.
Giroud was clearly in front of the defenders when he pulled off his acrobatic shot and few Chelsea players complained when the linesman raised his flag, but VAR determined that the ball came from Atletico defender Mario Hermoso instead of Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount, thus annulling the offside.
The result kept Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel unbeaten in eight matches since he took over the squad to replace Frank Lampard.
It was the second consecutive loss for Atletico, and also the eighth straight game in which the Spanish club conceded a goal, extending their worst run without a clean sheet since coach Diego Simeone arrived in 2011.
“It has been a difficult week but we have to keep competing,” Atletico midfielder Koke Resurreccion said. “We have to raise our heads and try to win the second leg. There’s no other option for us.”
It had been a lacklustre match until Giroud’s goal, with neither team managing to create many significant scoring opportunities. Chelsea controlled possession and looked a bit more dangerous, but both sides appeared to be satisfied with the scoreless draw and didn’t take too many risks.
“We knew they were ready to suffer with eight people in the box,” Tuchel said. “The intention was to keep the intensity high. We never let them breathe or come out for counter-attacks. We have a big reward with this result. This is one of the toughest challenges to open a defence like [Atletico].”
Atletico were outshot by Chelsea and finished the match with no attempts on target.
In the other round-of-16 match yesterday, teenager Jamal Musiala became Bayern Munich’s youngest goalscorer in the Champions League as he helped his team rout Lazio 4-1.
Musiala also became the secondyoungest player to score in the knockout stage of the competition when he netted Bayern’s second goal.
Bojan is the youngest, having netted for Barcelona aged 17 years and 217 days in 2008. Musiala, who is eligible to play for either Germany or England, is 17 years and 363 days.
Robert Lewandowski had earlier given Bayern the lead after a howler from Lazio and Leroy Sane put the defending champions firmly in control at the end of the first half.
Francesco Acerbi netted an own goal at the start of the second half as Lazio’s first appearance in the Champions League knockout stage for 20 years went from bad to worse. Joaquı´n Correa scored a consolation for the Italian side.