Chelsea denied by freakish late Valencia goal in Champions League thriller
Valencia 2-2 Chelsea: The Blues were on course for victory through goals from Mateo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic before a freakish late leveller
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Chelsea drew 2-2 with Valencia in yet another chaotic match, which means their Champions League group is still mired in uncertainty.
Chelsea’s abandon has been one of their most admirable traits this season, but it could yet prove a costly one in this competition, as it pretty much cost them the win at the Mestalla.
This draw with Valencia was – on the face of it – no means a bad result, but it could have been so much better. It could similarly have been a lot worse given Rodrigo’s bad miss in injury time, to go with so many others for the home side.
Far more costly in the long run might be the unfortunate injury to Tammy Abraham. He buckled over in pain just before half-time and eventually had to be stretchered away from the pitch after initially walking off.
His teammates did show a real resilience in actually going ahead after having already come from behind, but they effectively failed to win this match because they lost control of the game. There were long passages when they couldn’t live with Valencia’s energy, or get close to their running, with the key goal coming when Kepa Arrizabalega couldn’t get his hands close to Daniel Wass’s driven cross.
It was a hit-and-miss performance from the goalkeeper, especially given his crucial second-half penalty save, but then that was the case with his entire teams.
It was one of those matches that displayed existing gaps in the Chelsea squad - not least in midfield. Another of those, literally, was between Andreas Christensen and Kurt Zouma.
Some of that might naturally have been down to the fact Christensen has played so little of late, but it led to a lot of chances for Valencia. Maxi Gomez really should have scored twice before Carlos Soler finally hit the first, and his first miss was one of the most spectacular moments of the game - if for all the wrong reasons. It was still difficult to know how he managed it.
Rodrigo put the ball in the perfect spot for him only for Gomez to get it so wrong. Gomez swung his foot at it, only to miss it completely and fall over.
That was pretty much all Kepa did for the eventual opening goal, making his later redemption all the more important.
That’s because it felt like there was another big hole just in front of him. Soler seemingly only had to guide Ferran Torres’ cross at the goalkeeper, as it pretty much went through him for the opening goal.
The frustration for Chelsea at that point was that they had just started to come into the game - Jasper Cillesen showing how to use your hands to brilliant effect with a fine save from Abraham in the moments before that - but the frustration for Valencia was that they just gave that lead up.
Lampard’s team may have only had to wait a minute for the goal, but it ended a much, much longer wait for Kovacic. This was his first in almost three years - since 29 January 2017 for Real Madrid against Real Sociedad. It was all the more impressive that he showed the precision of a much more prolific goalscorer, guiding the ball into the bottom corner of Cillesen’s net with a fine strike.
It was a brief period in the game where Chelsea were in the ascendancy and close to complete control, bookended by Pulisic’s strike.
They had a longer wait there, before VAR ruled that the forward was not actually offside. Chelsea could actually have made the game safe in this period - but there were of course other complications beyond misses and snatched chances.
More seriously, there was the injury to Abraham. The striker looked in real pain, and the hope is it’s nothing too long term.
More immediately, there was the way they couldn’t quite maintain control of the game. There were always those gaps, always those imperfections.
There might certainly have been an imperfection to the next VAR decision, which saw Jorginho adjudged to have taken down Jose Gaya in a 50-50.
Kepa at least ensured it wasn’t such a big talking point, with a strong save from Dani Parejo.
Of greater concern for Jorginho here was how much he, Kovacic and Kante were overrun. They just couldn’t seem to assert any kind of command on the game.
It might be inexperience, it might be game-management, but it was beyond doubt a Valencia goal was coming.
It just fitted the game that it came from an unusual source, almost removed from the general pattern of play.
Wass attempted what can only be presumed was a cross, but with much more power to it than precision, and it flew over Kepa’s head and in off the post.
It was a freak goal to settle the final result in a freak game, and one where it was often difficult to tell intention from end product.
There were just so many moments where you were left wondering what either side were doing.
Uncertainty reigned, as it is with this group going into the final game.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments