Chelsea into UCL semi-finals despite losing 0-1 at ‘home’ to Porto on Tuesday night. It was their 0-2 win in the first leg against Porto that gave them the advantage, as they reached the semi-finals of the competition on a 2-1 aggregate.
Chelsea into the UCL semi-finals, which will be their first in seven years and the most by any English club, 8 times.
Porto who were desperate to overturn the first let deficit, were unable to do so, as Chelsea were stronger defensively, with Kante and Jorginho providing the defence line with a lot of protections from the Porto threats. It was until the extra time that the Portuguese side were able to break Chelsea and it was the spectacular late overhead kick from Mehdi Taremi that finally broke the Chelsea record.
Thomas Tuchel’s side went into this ‘home’ last-eight second leg – with both games being played in Seville during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Chelsea, who will now face either Liverpool or Real Madrid in the semi-final, played within themselves but it was enough to keep a disappointing Porto at bay, the Portuguese side rarely testing keeper Edouard Mendy with their surprisingly cautious approach, which they only cast aside when it was too late.
Mendy’s poor clearance almost offered Jesus Corona a first-half chance but he could not take advantage, while Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount had opportunities after the break.
Taremi’s goal was out of character with the rest of Porto’s performance and came too late to alter the inevitable course of this quarter-final.
Some stats:
- Chelsea have reached the Champions League semi-finals for the eighth time, more than any other English side in the competition’s history.
- Porto have exited in the Champions League knockout stages on 14 occasions, with 50% of those eliminations coming at the hands of English sides. Porto have been knocked out by an English team on each of the last three occasions they’ve reached the knockout rounds (Liverpool in 2017-18 and 2018-19).
- There were just three shots on target in this match (1 for Chelsea, 2 for Porto), with two of these coming in added time (Christian Pulisic for Chelsea and Mehdi Taremi’s late winner).
- This was just Porto’s second ‘away’ victory in the Champions League knockout stages (D6 L13), after their win at Deportivo in the 2003-04 semi-final.
- This was Porto’s first ever ‘away’ win against an English side in European competition, with the Portuguese side having failed to win any of their first 21 such games (D3 L18).
- Mehdi Taremi’s 93rd-minute strike was the latest Chelsea have conceded in a Champions League game (excluding extra-time) since April 2005 against Bayern Munich, when Mehmet Scholl scored in the 95th minute.
- Jorginho made eight tackles in this match, the most by a Chelsea player in a Champions League game since N’Golo Kanté against Barcelona in March 2018 (also 8).