Wasteful Chelsea Lucky To Escape Portugal With All Three Points
By Lou Flavius
@LouFlavius
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Jose Mourinho‘s Chelsea remains unbeaten in all competitions this season. His team is scoring goals for fun in the Premier League, but can’t seem to make the best of their chances in the Champions League.
The Blues hung on to a 1-0 lead to beat Sporting Lisbon at the Estádio José Alvalade in Portugal, but things could have been so different. They failed to capitalize on several clear-cut chances. Had the opposition been slightly better, Chelsea would have probably left the grounds empty-handed.
Diego Costa, who has been suffering with a hamstring injury, was risked for this game. He was the first one who failed to beat keeper Rui Patricio — who by the way had a splendid game. Costa did keep the Sporting defenders on their toes. He was a bit unlucky not to get on the score sheet, as he had a few other chances.
Chelsea controlled the first half of the match, it seemed another easy victory. They went ahead when Cesc Fabregas found Nemanja Matic in the box with a lovely ball off a free kick. The Serbian rose to head the ball past the keeper, and into the back of the net, scoring his second goal of the season. Matic was a bright spark throughout the game, contributing on both ends of the pitch.
It was all one-way traffic until the halftime whistle, but Chelsea managed to throw several opportunities away. Sporting had a much better second half. They created a few chances, much to the frustration of Mourinho, who was hoping to have wrapped things up earlier on in the match. Chelsea paid for their wastefulness against Schalke in their last Champions League match. They could only grab a point after having scored first, and the Blues were keen to avoid a repeat
Andre Schurrle had an extremely poor game, missing the best chance to go up 2-0 after Eden Hazard cut in from the right to find him with a superb lay off. The German, bearing down on goal, managed to shoot wide; he missed several other chances, and was rightfully subbed by Mourinho in the second half.
Chelsea faced similar struggles in the Premier League last season, but Mourinho has molded the squad into a goalscoring machine. The Blues have already scored 19 league goals so far, eight of them coming from Costa. The team has failed to replicate these stats in European competition. They play the same system, create the same chances, but fail to finish in the same fashion.
Mourinho’s men should consider themselves lucky, the stubborn Lisbon team could have grabbed a point — or possibly all three — with the chances they created. The Blues now sit at the top of their group with four points, and with their next two games coming up against NK Maribor, they could qualify for the round of 16 with two games to spare.
There’s probably nothing to worry about, but Chelsea’s players need to be sharper in front of goal. This squad is probably the best and most complete Chelsea ever, but if they keep throwing away chances, they will surely pay.
Lou Flavius is a soccer writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @LouFlavius , “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
