Chelsea had to settle for second place in their Champions League group after a Steven Savic own goal secured a point at home to Atletico Madrid, who needed to win in order to stand any chance of progressing.
The first-half wasn’t much of a spectacle, with Chelsea dominating but failing to test the mightily impressive Jan Oblak. Davide Zappacosta, who was playing in an unfamiliar role as the left-wing back, stung the palms of the Slovenian with his rangy effort.
The second-half started with Atletico breaking out of their shell in search of a goal, having heard news of a goal in Rome that would send them out.
They eventually broke the deadlock, as lackadaisical Chelsea marking allowed Saul the freedom of the Kings Road to head past Thibaut Courtois. In typical Diego Simeone fashion, Atletico sat back in an attempt to soak up the pressure, but their defence is not the impenetrable force it used to be, and the introductions of direct runners Willian and Pedro meant Chelsea had numerous chances to draw level.
Parity was restored on 75 minutes when Eden Hazard drove into Atletico’s box before firing a ball into the area that deflected off Savic and past Oblak.
Oblak was in tremendous form to deny Alvaro Morata moments after Chelsea equalised and his presence prevented the Blues from walking away with all three points.
Roma’s win means that they top the group on the head to head ruling, so Chelsea must settle for a place as runners-up.
Here are my Chelsea ratings from the game:
Thibaut Courtois - 7
Superb reactions to save Saul’s diving header after Filipe Luis had hit the base of the post.
Cesar Azpilicueta - 7
Antoine Griezmann looked ordinary as a result of Azpilicueta’s diligence and anticipation.
Andreas Christensen - 7
Really should have scored when Cesc Fabregas’s pacy ball reached him just a few yards from goal, but over the past few weeks he has started to develop the attacking side of his game. His passing was immaculate as is common place for the young Dane.
Gary Cahill - 7
Pulled off an incredible sliding challenge late on to nick the ball off Angel Correa – it had the potential to lead to a penalty but he timed the tackle to perfection. An experienced performance from the Englishmen.
Victor Moses - 7
Had the beating of Atletico’s defence everytime he ventured forward, and some of his deliveries from the byline really should have been dispatched.
Cesc Fabregas - 7
Was more of a catalyst for the quick footed trickery of Hazard, Willian and Pedro, playing balls down the line and exercising a brilliantly reworked short corner technique that fooled Atletico’s defence ons countless occasions.
N'Golo Kante - 7
Didn’t have much to do because once Atletico held a rigid defensive shape for much of the game, especially in the second-half. But as the game became stretched following Chelsea’s equaliser, his work in the tackle helped the Blues break forward with speed.
Tiemoue Bakayoko - 5
Really lazy marking to lose Saul for Atletico’s goal and this is not the first time it’s happened either, for a man so physically imposing he really needs to learn to assert himself more on attackers – especially when marking.
Was rightly withdrawn midway through the second-half.
Davide Zappacosta - 6
Playing out of position he did a respectable job, cutting in or offering an option on the overlap, but his energy was replaced with a more creative outlet in Willian. He also failed to get tight to Fernando Torres, whose flick on set up Saul’s goal.
Eden Hazard - 9
Over and over and over again he blitzed past Gimenez and Savic, finally being rewarded for his pinpoint deliveries when his cross was deflected past Oblak to draw Chelsea level.
Alvaro Morata - 6
Whilst you can’t question his ability in the air, when you put the ball at this feet, he seems to find it remarkably difficult to put it into the back of the net – an issue that for a striker of his calibre is pretty much inexcusable if you expect to be challenging for titles.
In fairness, he did put himself about but his shooting just let him down, if he’s to be remembered as one of the great strikers, he needs to become more clinical.
Subs:
Pedro – 8, Every time he picked up the ball, he looked to drive forward and pick out a teammate, and his added attacking impetus was crucial to the way Chelsea played following Atletico’s goal.
Willian – 7, Missed a glorious opportunity from Hazard’s cut back, but much like Pedro, his running and quick feet saw Chelsea produce so many openings late on.
Michy Batshuayi – 7, Nearly won the game in the same late fashion he did in the reverse fixture in Madrid. He is the complete opposite of Morata in the sense that his finishing is incredibly clinical, he just doesn’t have the awareness to make runs to create these goal scoring opportunities regularly.