Champions League: Salzburg draw at Chelsea
The “Blues” were the better and the team obviously wanted to win their first win under neo-coach Graham Potter. Salzburg traffic on a better version of itself. 16:4 shots on goal underline the superiority of the Londoners, but this time Salzburg delivered a masterpiece on the defensive, even if the offensive probably fell short of expectations.
After AC Milan’s 3-1 home win over Dinamo Zagreb in the previous game, Salzburg are now third with two points and Chelsea last with one point. Milan leads the table with four points ahead of Zagreb with three points. The Croatians are the next opponents of the home champions in Salzburg on October 5th. Who can calculate points in this duel with the previous performances.
ZIB night with Champions League
In an intense game, Salzburg managed the Champions League surprise against Chelsea and drew 1-1. The Austrians are unbeaten after two matchdays. (from 10:30 min.)
Full throttle after the minute of silence
The game against Chelsea was a special one. No Champions League anthem was played, the reasons were clear. After the minute’s silence for the deceased Queen Elizabeth II.
Chelsea fans awaited their side’s first appearance under Potter. The “Blues” went full throttle with the best line-up, Salzburg had their legs full on the defensive. The Londoners kept coming down the left flank via Raheem Sterling. The Salzburg defense was still able to block every shot from Chelsea. The Jaissle-Elf could hardly free itself from the clutches of the English, there were almost no relief actions for the first ten minutes.
Salzburg dominates at least the defensive
Salzburg had to start the game without Fernando, who injured his thigh while warming up. Benjamin Sesko is in the starting XI for him. Chelsea continued to attack at high speed and with a lot of power. The “Bulls” were still concentrated in defense, but they couldn’t play their usual powerful game up front.
65 percent for Chelsea is the ball ratio after almost half an hour of play. Jaissle was not at all satisfied with the outline. The 34-year-old German repeatedly shook his head and put his arms on his sides, rarely raising them to urge his team on. The game didn’t go as hoped. Coach Potter applauded this all the more often, including a long-range shot from Mason Mount (40th).
Sterling again and again
Shortly thereafter, Sesko fired Salzburg’s first shot at goal – without a result. The game had previously been interrupted for a few minutes because referee Ivan Kruzliak from Slovakia had problems communicating with his assistants. Before the break, however, the level of the party flattened out. Chelsea had not played many compelling chances. Danger always comes from the very quick and lively Sterling.
But Salzburg’s own penalty area was still theirs, and they weren’t able to exert any pressure in attack. Jaissle switched at the break. Lucas Gourna-Douath came on for Maurits Kjaergaard and took the position in front of the defence. But this change could not prevent the 0:1 in the 48th minute. A slightly deflected cross from Mount was missed by Bernardo and found Sterling free. He circled the ball precisely to lead into the far corner.
The “bulls” strike back
Chelsea continued to play well against the ball after the goal, ran a lot and didn’t let Salzburg get into the rhythm of the game with their own qualities, so to speak. In addition, there was the higher individual class and probably also the coaching effect that the “Blues” still got the famous “Schäurl” extra performance.
But Salzburg struck almost out of nowhere. The ball was intercepted in his own penalty area, came through several stations to substitute Junior Adamu, whose standard pass Okafor rolled past Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa to make it 1-1 (75′). The young Swiss continued his goal streak from the last few games and was celebrated by the Salzburg fans who had traveled with him.
Intensive final phase
The horror was written on the faces of Chelsea and its fans. Potter switched through again and continued to send quality onto the field with Hakim Ziyech and Christian Pulisic. The “Come on, Chelsea” calls grew more insistent. Salzburg fought back with all means and brought on Sekou Koita instead of Okafor.
Armando Broja fired the ball over the bar in the penalty area in the second minute of added time, but that was the end of the evening for both teams and the draw was settled. It lasted the longest for the Salzburg fans, who sang “Oh, how beautiful that is!” long after the final whistle. Not without good reason, because this time her team showed that they can also defend.
Comments on the game:
Matthias Jaissle (Salzburg coach): “It’s something special to take a point with our young team here at Stamford Bridge. I am very satisfied with our passionate performance. We must not forget where we come from. We come to London as clear underdogs. How we defended and also tried to put pinpricks on offense. Just crazy. After the second day of play I’m not interested in the table. We scored points against two world-class teams. That’s really cool.”
Graham Potter (Chelsea coach): “We are disappointed, we had planned three points. Salzburg was very aggressive against the ball, had one or the other chance and a strong goalkeeper. It’s two lost points for us.”
UEFA Champions League, Group E, second match day
Wednesday:
Chelsea 1-1 Salzburg (0-0)
London, Stamford Bridge, 38,818 spectators, SR Kruzliak (SVK)
Consequence:
1-0 Sterling (48′)
1-1 Okafor (75′)
Chelsea: Kepa – James, Thiago Silva, Azpilicueta (81 / Ziyech), Cucurella – Jorginho, Kovacic (81 / Gallagher) – Mount, Havertz (66 / Loftus-Cheek), Sterling (84 / Pulisic) – Aubameyang (66 ./Broja)
Salzburg: Köhn – Dedic, Pavlovic, Bernardo, Ulmer – Capaldo, Seiwald, Sucic (70th / Kameri), Kjaergaard (46th / Gourna-Douath) – Sesko (70th / Adamu), Okafor (89th / Koita)
Yellow cards: James or Adamu, Pavlovic, Ulmer, Capaldo