Chelsea thriller
Eight goals, two red cards, two penalties, two own goals ... but VAR denies Lampard victory
Believe nothing until the all-seeing eye of the video assistant referee has decreed it so, and as if to prove the case, VAR served up this remarkable event, in front of a disbelieving stadium across eight goals, two red cards, two penalties and one disallowed winner.
Chelsea v Ajax, the director’s cut. A Champions League game when nothing could be taken for certain until VAR had rewound and reviewed, and it was hard to keep up at times for those in the ground without the benefit of television replays.
There were two Ajax players sent off in the same passage of play and then there was a dramatic late Cesar Azpilicueta “winner”, ruled out long after the Chelsea captain had kissed his armband and launched himself chest-first on the turf.
Azpilicueta thought he had won it before VAR spotted a handball and all concerned looked a bit embarrassed about the preceding ebullience as Chelsea were forced to continue seeking a winner against the nine men of Ajax.
The best you could say was that VAR got the decisions right, and that will be enough for most, but watching this game in person was an exercise in piecing the evidence together as best as possible.
“A mad one” was how Frank Lampard described it, although his team were the big VAR beneficiaries, especially when it came to the double red card for Daley Blind and Joel Veltman, the two Ajax centrehalves, with 20 minutes to play. The first for a second yellow for Blind for a foul on Abraham, then a second yellow for Veltman moments later when advantage was played and substitute Callum Hudsonodoi’s shot struck the defender’s hand.
Unpicking the muddle was the Italian VAR Paolo Valeri, and within a few moments Ajax were two men down and then their lead cut to 4-3 by the resulting penalty. Erik ten Hag, the Ajax coach, said Blind had been fouled earlier in the key phase of play and that the VAR should have taken that as his starting point.
It leaves Chelsea, Ajax and Valencia level on seven points from four games in Group H. Lampard’s team will go to Valencia in three weeks’ time. He said that there was much he could admire in this performance – “the spirit we showed and the character – I love” – although it is about to get serious.
There was a first Chelsea goal for the 19-year-old Reece James, on as a substitute and lashing a shot through the penalty area to equalise at 4-4. He was one of five homegrown Chelsea players to feature. There were two penalties converted in either half by Jorginho, and they will need that composure over the last two group games.
For all their undoubted qualities going forward, Chelsea remain vulnerable at the back. Indeed, when Donny van de Beek scored in the 55th minute to make it 4-1, it felt like Ajax simply had more ringcraft than their opponents.
Last season’s Champions League semi-finalists had outplayed Chelsea in the first half and their confidence was undimmed in those late stages when they continued attacking with nine men.
In many respects, Ajax are what Chelsea aspire to be – a confident, fluent side who suck opposition in and pass around them. They have two Moroccans, two Argentines, a Brazilian, a Cameroonian and a Serb in their starting line-up, as well as the Dutch, all unmistakably schooled in the same style of play. They lost their two best players in the summer and yet the daring of last season’s team endures with some wonderful players who will, one assumes, also one day leave.
The first Ajax goal flicked in off Tammy Abraham’s boot, from Quincy Promes’s free-kick on the left wing, with just 1min 46sec on the clock. That ball whipped into the area caused Chelsea many problems and no one did it better for Ajax than Morocco international Hakim Ziyech.
His cross after 20 minutes from the right was perfectly flighted for the head of Promes to make it 2-1. Later, after 35 minutes, it was from a free-kick out wide and barely a few feet in from the goal-line which Ziyech struck so perfectly that it eluded Kepa Arrizabalaga, cannoned off a post and then went in off the goalkeeper’s face.
Ziyech could never have meant it – but his left foot does deliver the ball in ways that make unusual things happen.
Chelsea had equalised shortly after the first Ajax goal in what was a thundering start to the game, Christian Pulisic drawing a foul from Veltman after 2min 50sec, the defender’s first booking. From the penalty spot, the little skip in Jorginho’s run-up sent Andre Onana the wrong way for the first time. Abraham had a goal ruled out for offside in the 14th minute.
Van de Beek made it 4-1 10 minutes after the break when a malfunctioning Chelsea defence gave him space for the shot. For all that, Chelsea had started the half well and their reward came. First a goal from Azpilicueta that looked offside as he turned it in on the line.
Then the red cards for Blind and Veltman. Jorginho scored the penalty for 4-3. James drove the ball in for 4-4 and it would have been won for Chelsea by Azpilicueta had VAR not spotted a handball by Abraham. They had already celebrated it like a winner and, faced with scoring another, they fell just short.