Chelsea 1 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg - 切爾西足球俱樂部 Chelsea Football Club

Chelsea 1 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg

Azpilicueta - Lukaku 69'

2 Shots on Target 2
9 Shots off Target 4
7 Corners 4
9 Fouls 5
0 Offsides 1
2 Saves 1
1 Yellow Cards 1
66% Possession 34%











Cards
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Cesar Azpilicueta 45' 62' Yaroslav Rakitskiy





球場: Stamford Bridge, London
觀眾: 39,252
開賽: 20:00 Tue, 14 Sep 2021
主裁: Bartosz Frankowski




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https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/09/15/
the-debrief--patience-and-finding-the-right-combinations-key-to-

The Debrief: Patience and finding the right combinations key to winning
Champions League start

15 Sep 2021


We opened our defence of the Champions League trophy with a victory over
Zenit St Petersburg, but we were made to work hard for the win by our
Russian opponents.


https://i.imgur.com/VR1wq2j.png


Despite dominating much of the game, we found it difficult to carve out
chances in front of a vocal Stamford Bridge crowd, having to wait until
well into the second half before Romelu Lukaku's fine header gave us a
narrow 1-0 victory.


It was the striker's first Champions League goal for Chelsea and was no
less than we or the Man of the Match deserved for our efforts, although
the win also owed much to our defensive resilience as we secured our 23rd
clean sheet in all competitions under Thomas Tuchel, five more than any
other club in Europe's top five leagues has managed during that time.


== Hunting for the breakthrough ==


Despite being in control for most of the fixture, having 66 per cent of
the possession and the ever-influential Jorginho accounting for 10 per
cent of that figure all on his own, Zenit made it very difficult for us to
convert our dominance into clear chances. In a sign of what we were up
against, the Russian side made a massive 27 clearances, all but two of
them in their penalty area.


The difficulty we were presented with was further shown by the fact that
of our 11 shots, with seven of them coming inside the box, only two were
on target, and almost half (five) were blocked by opposition defenders as
we tried to force the issue without a clear sight of goal.


As is to be expected, scorer Lukaku was our biggest goal threat
throughout, accounting for four of those 11 shots, and it was clear we
were trying to use his physical presence and ability to unsettle defenders
to our advantage in pursuit of the winner. Half of his shots, including
his goal, came from headers as, despite our patient build-up into the
final third, we delivered 22 crosses into the penalty area, compared to
just four by Zenit.


https://i.imgur.com/C7UdG6Q.jpg


Those crosses weren't the only way we tried to look for different
solutions to breach the defensive wall put up in front of us. We attempted
23 dribbles compared to Zenit's 15 as players tried to beat their man to
break through the lines and create space in the opposition half, with
Mateo Kovacic's six dribbles the highest number of any player on the
pitch, Mason Mount and Hakim Ziyech producing the next highest for Chelsea
with four each.


== The right combination ==


When the breakthrough did arrive it came via a trademark Cesar Azpilicueta
cross to the back post from deep and that should have been no surprise as,
along with Lukaku, it was the combination of the Spanish defender with
Reece James and Mount down our right side which had looked like our most
promising route to goal for much of the game.


https://i.imgur.com/GAo6S5A.jpg


In addition to Mount's high number of dribbles, which unsurprisingly all
came in the opposition half, James also beat his man twice in dangerous
positions in the final third, and of our 22 crosses into the box, that
trio accounted for 12 of them (Mount five, James four, Azpilicueta three).


Only Jorginho (128) played more than Azpilicueta's 114 passes during the
90 minutes too, showing that we favoured that right side when building out
from the back through our three defenders.


https://i.imgur.com/NYVdBS9.png


There was plenty of penetration from that trio on the right, too. Mount
and James made more key passes than anyone else, with three each, which
when combined with Azpilicueta's for the goal, means they produced seven of
Chelsea's 10 key passes in total.


== Alert at the back ==


Despite dominating possession, we didn't have things all our own way, and
our defenders and goalkeeper had to stay on their toes to deal with some
dangerous Zenit counter-attacks.


Edouard Mendy showed why he was presented with the Champions League
Goalkeeper of the Year award before kick-off with his two saves. The fact
that number was one more than Zenit's keeper demonstrates how effective
their counters could be on the few occasions they got forward on the ball.


https://i.imgur.com/gK0JI2C.jpg
Tuchel congratulates Mendy on his 10th Champions League clean sheet


Our Senegalese goalkeeper has now managed 10 clean sheets in his first 13
Champions League appearances. Only Keylor Navas managed to reach that
milestone in less games (11).

--


When it comes to a crisis, still keep on running.

You believe in power. It's mental power.


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