Champions League, Matches - Written by BlueChampion on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 1:13 | 1,598 Views | 40 Comments | Add Comment
Valencia 1-2 Chelsea: The Incredibles!
Fantastic! Fabulous! Brilliant! I’m running out of adjectives! What a win!! Hats off to Jose and every single Chelsea player and the die-hard Chelsea fans who complement this wonderful team. This should come as a shocker for a lot of jerks who hate Chelsea and thought we’ll get eliminated at Spain. If we need to break a record to win the tie, so be it! The first English team to win at the Mestalla. It’s fair to say, we tamed the lion in its den. Man Utd bettering a tennis score against Roma at home is an achievement too. But I would put this Chelsea win right on top.
The Special One rightly said:
I am so proud of my players. Every Chelsea fan must be proud of them and why not?
Jose Mourinho took the risk of starting with Michael Essien, which put away any chances of SWP or Maka playing. We played 4-4-2 with a rare flat midfield. The first half was quite an ordinary one for Chelsea. Though we had a huge percentage of possession, we did not create too many genuine chances. It looked as if the plan is to score form the set pieces where Valencia looked vulnerable. We tried to sneak in a corner at every possible chance. Whereas Valencia created two or three clear cut chances of which they scored one. That Morientes goal was real horror defending. I was reminded of those days of Terry-less, Carvalho-less central defence with Hilario in goal. When a striker like Morientes is given so much space and time inside the box, that’s gonna result in a goal. In Premiership games, I can understand if we attack the ball instead of the players during set piece defending. While you’re playing a team of Valencia’s quality and proficiency in winning headers, it would have been wiser to go for the players instead of the ball.
It was nice to see Ballack having a good game. Won a lot of balls and was very very unlucky not to score a goal. It was a great header by Ballack to send the ball to the bottom corner. Only a miraculous save from Canizares prevented Ballack from scoring. Mikel was a little wobbly in the first half, may be over-awed by the Mestalla but he improved steadily and was very sharp and effective in the second half. The way he made a fool of Villa in a smart peiece of defending said it all. He is a real class act Mikel. If he progresses in this way, he could be one of the top 3 performers of Chelsea next season.
Lampard again, did not score or did not assist but played very well. He delivered some good corner kicks some of which could have resulted in goals some other day. I was particularly impressed with this tackles tonight. The one man who stood out all through the game was Michael Essien. Making a somewhat hasty return from his injury, he showed absolutely no signs of fatigue. I wonder how much ground he covers every match and how many miles he runs on the pitch! He played as if he was never out, just like Joe Cole. It’s a shame that Essien would miss the next match due to suspension.
Except that horror moment that gave the lead to Valencia, our defence did a great job. Ashley Cole must thanking all stars that he joined the Champions leaving the Champions league spot battlers who have no cups to play for but still lose at home in a league match. The Ashley Cole-Drogba longball combination would have produced another goal but for a brilliant save by Canizares. The whole defence put in a very solid performance that Cech must have been feeling bored all alone at the back. While this was the story of our defence, Valencia defence resorted to their rowdy practices. Ayala once again lucky in this leg too for not having sent off, after his one more elbow. The number of fouls committed by them will clarify their strategy for this game.
At half time, Jose swapped Diarra for Joe Cole which also meant that Essien would move to the right back and if need be change to 3-4-3. This really paid off as Chelsea grew stronger in the second half with every passing minute. As I was always suspecting, Valencia made a meal of a set piece. Essien’s very well curved cross somehow brought the ball to the Sheva’s feet, who took the goal very neatly with just micro seconds available for him to react. While Chelsea was pushing another goal for Valencia never showed interest in playing football. The first English team to win at the Mestalla. May be they had the penalty shootout in their mind. Having equalised and playing in such tempo and vigour Chelsea were always going to get the winner, sooner or later. Well it’s later in here.
As always, Chelsea did not appear to have been ruffled too much about the approaching full time whistle. In their relentless pursuit for the winning goal, they never get pressurised by the time left. With all Valencia players getting tired and heavy, hoping for the full time whistle, Joe Cole and Essien, the two returners set up a thundering winner. When Joe Cole got the ball right in front of the goal, in his striking zone, he opted to pass it to Sheva, who made a smart pass into the box. In comes Essien running in like a raging bull which won’t convince you that it was in the 90th minute! When Essien stormed inside penalty box, with Sheva, Ballack, Drogba, Lampard, Carvalho and Terry waiting for a cross, not many would have thought Essien would blast that towards the near post. Probably that’s what caught everyone including Canizares by surprise. After this goal, there were three minutes of stoppage time. Valencia had by that time surrendered and they were down and out. And it was so strange that we were still pushing them and attacking for a possible third!
Jose is particularly happy about his matchwinner:
Essien is a special player. He is an athlete. He can run forever. He could play a game every day. He is a superb athlete. When we lost him one month ago it was a big, big loss. But he was ready to come for this crucial game. I know he is suspended for the next game but this one was the crucial one. The next one is not crucial.
Couple of interesting things happened here. If you had read my post on Valencia earlier, I had mentioned that Valencia has this tendency to concede goals in the 45 - 60 mins period. Chelsea’s equalisers in both the legs came in this period. And then comes our habit scoring goals in the last 10 minutes. Put both these together and you get a historic away win!
Jose on the match:
It was a great performance, especially in the second half. A great performance against a good team. We had a difficult start and were losing 1-0 and out of the competition. But the second half was amazing. We dominated the second half but I did not have to give a hot half-time talk. I was just telling my players to be strong and to have a strong mentality. I told them to resist the pressure. We made a tactical change by putting Essien at right-back. He is offensive and powerful in that position and Joe Cole and Shevchenko helped us to create more two-on-one situations. We deserved to win the game over 90 minutes. (Santiago) Canizares made two unbelievable saves - especially the one against Michael Ballack’s header. I thought the team was very strong. I had the changes ready if it went to extra-time. But when I saw the ball in the net in the last minute with Valencia needing to score two, it was great. It happened to me when I was at Porto - we scored in Old Trafford in the last moment. Like all goals, there was great emotion.
Jose Mourinho did a few crucial things which were instrumental in this win:
1. He selected Essien to play
2. He did not play SWP/Maka (1 min does not count)
3. He opted for a flat midfield as we had to attack them relentlessly
4. Brought in Joe Cole for Diarra as early as half time
5. Had his team looking for set peices
6. Boldly switched to 4-3-3 and 3-4-3 intermittently
More than all these he said this GEM before the start of this match
The Mestalla will be a pressure environment, but fans don’t score goals
Having drawn the home game and conceding an away goal, going to the haunted away stadium where no English team had won before, facing the most fearsome and vocal home crowds, coming back from a goal behind, and equalising only in the second half and scoring the winning goal in the 90th minute of the game - absolutely incredible. The odds were completely against Chelsea making it through. But we went there and dominated them throughout the match, had twice the possession, twice the shots and twice their will, grit and passion to win this match.
The Chelsea fairytale of this season continues. Most probably, Liverpool will be our semi final opponents again. We certainly have a score to settle with them. Just like the way we avenged our defeat to Barcelona, we need to teach some lessons to the scousers. We were beaten by them in the 04-05 Champions League semifinals, we lost in the FA Cup semi finals last season and we lost three crucial points in our match at Anfield in January. Ah, there are too many reasons for a revenge!
40 Comments
1. Richard
Yessssssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. charls
won the match yaaaar
4. abdullah
essien!!!!!!!! he truly proved his worth and presence. See u in the semis liverpool. Blue4lyfe
5. bigbadblue
what do you guys think of Mikel? Is he the new Mikelele?
6. TBag
WOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO What a result!! Love you Essien, you are awesome.
GO CHELSEA!!
7. TBAGISAGHOST
Well Well the champions are coming through!! Bring on Liverpool!!!
What an amazing result. Its bad that Essien will miss the first leg of the semi but it is ok as at least he has taken us through to it!!
Come on DROGBA!
8. simo
Fuck valencia !!! shiitt mikel is the best and fuck the rest
9. fwembt
Now where are all of those people who said we could not beat Valencia?
10. bango
Lampard was shit today. Terrible, terrible free kicks, and I don’t know which corners you were watching. He should be benched, honestly.
11. bingo
man, lampard played like a roaring lion. he was just awesome tonight. i wonder which match were you watching. all his corners were superb tonight and ballack connected most of them too. dont slate him now. he is not playing for england, he is playing for chelsea now.
12. fwembt
Every corner was threatening, it makes me wonder what match you were watching. Only an inability to finish in front of goal kept us from scoring on a corner. Lamps put all but one of them in a near perfect position. Our first goal came directly after a well placed set piece. Aside from the set pieces, Lamps was instrumental in defence. Lampard was bad in the first Valencia match but give the man his due today. He was fantastic.
13. moby
when we play the scousers, I really think although we will miss his presencense in midfield play essien at RB. And play Kalou instead of Ballack. The reason for bringing on Kalou and essien at RB is two reasons:
1. Lampard’s form has been controversal but we can all agree that he is not playing his best from two years ago. We need more unilateral thinking in midfield with Lampard attacking and Mikil covering there would be less confusion and more fludity in attack.
2. Every time we play the scousers we always come unstuck from the lack of width, Essein and Kalou can provide us this, so we can get goals. Ask any expert 4-3-3 is our best formation. With Kalou the third man and J.cole can stay more flatter in midfield, Essien can thus provide the width on the right.
14. moby
just realised essien is out of 1st leg lol
still kalou should play some part
15. prats
great result!!!!!!!
16. LISAOLISUT
YEAYYYY..CHELSEA THE WINNER!!
SURPRISE HUH…=)
HERO ALWAYS BE THE HERO!! YEAYY!
17. Adonis
Was I the only one that lost his voice screaming for joy at Essien’s winner?
Midfield_Decider and Joeblue… Do you need more proof that JM is the best manager in the world?
18. RomanHoliday
Sheer joy, satisfaction and pride
I salute you All men of Chelsea football club
19. RomanHoliday
BTW
Aren’t we supposed to be playing Blackburn in the FA semis this weekend BC ? Don’t see the date in ur calender.
Cheers
20. maysam
I have just watched the game, not live.
actually my prediction was correct i said we won’t qualify in 90 minutes 
woow it was great.
i would like to write more but now is 2:00 AM and i should sleep :))
but i wanna say this one, when Canizares saved two great chances, I told my self, oh my god who said Cech is the best goaly . but when Essien scored and Conizares made that childish mistake ( Thank him ) I told myself ooh that’s why Cech is the best :))
21. Manish
Congrats to all on a well deserved Chelsea win.
22. BeLâ„¢â€
It was a match with pressure way before it was kicked off. Chelsea’s boys really did an awesome job .. great work … you guys must have put in tonnes of effort. It can be seen & it all paid off! Keep that up *smiles*
The Blues never lets its club down *thumbs up*
Cheers
Christabel
23. charls
We play blackburn in FA semifinals on 15th sunday.Live coverage on sky sports from 3.30pm
24. Midfield_Decider
First of all congrats to everyone.
I watched the game and Lampard played rubbish, don’t cheat yourself guys. The reason why the 1st half was bad for us is that the midfield of Lamps-Ballack is not performing. Everytime we play a good opposition we need to change things to get a result. Ballack was not so bad, but Lamps was awful. My man of the match is Essien. Then Drogba, Mikel, Sheva, J.Cole, A.Cole were all very good. It’s definitely clear that with the midfield of Lamps-Ballack and without wingers like J.Cole, Robben we do suffer. And this stationary and rubbish midfield of two will hardly help us against Liverpool. We need Essien, J.Cole and Robben. Robben closed the season and Essien is banned for the 1st leg. But the 1st leg is at home so our main objective there is to score at least one and try not to consede at any cost (even if we remain 10 men). I think 1-0 at Stramford Bridge will take us through with Essien returning for the 2nd leg. Now I know whom we missed so much last year against Barca in the 2nd stage of the Champions League. It’s Essien.
Adonis, don’t be childish. I have never said that some manager is the best or the worst in the world. Mourinho has proved long before that he is a very good manager. I just criticize him when where it’s due. And I still do.
Bring on dippers!
25. maysam
Medifield Decider :
I completely agree with you, Lampard and ballack did not play well in the first half, but it is not unusuall becasue Valncia players run all the time they pressed them, to be honest, we did not beat Valencia their fatigue beat them . in the second half they were tired so they made mistake they lost the middle of the field and that’s it.
I believe mourinho chose 11 players correctly, he wanted to possess ball and he was successful , to me J.COLE was the best player, he really changed the game , once he came in.
I really like reading your post, but i think you have problem with Lampard. 
26. Adonis
There’s no way you can say Valencia’s fatigue beat them… They rested most of their players over the weekend; we couldn’t afford to. Our heart and courage and strategy beat them, fair and square.
27. bingo
adonis is right. valencia rested 7 of their players for the weekend la liga game. chelsea did not rest anyone but has been playing very very crucial games without resting anyone - that too twice a week.
Having rested in the weekend game and playing at home, actually Chelsea should have got tired. To say that valecia’s fatifue beat them is undermining Chelsea’s achievement. Remember, it was fortress mestalla where we beat them.
Adonis put it perfectly in a single line:
“Our heart and courage and strategy beat them, fair and square”
28. bagagaga
u suck last mmin ???
29. Anonymous
Jose is the best manager in this planet. That has never been in question. those who keep saying that lamps should be dropped have a problem with their reasoning. can anyone tell me who carried the team when JT and the goalie were out. The team suffered a major confidence decline and lampard took it upon himself to make sure all is not lost. At that time he put in performances that were even better than drogba’s. Overall he is the third best player for chelsea this season after drogba and essien. The reason he is playing not as he did for the last two seasons is because of the clash with ballack. Lampard is a tested performer and i think Ballack shoul;d only play the last 30 minutes of every game.
Though jose is too good to take advice from me, i Would go 4 the following names( first 11)if i were him: 4-3-1-2: Cech, Diarra,JT, Carvalho,Ashley cole,Mikel,Lampard,SWP,J cole,Shevchenko, drogba. SWP will provide some attacking flair to support j Cole and the strikers. that’s because of two reasons: We will be playing at home hence the need to attack and two, essien is suspended
30. Midfield_decider
Ok guys, some of you realy do not understand what I keep saying. I don’t want Lampard to be dropped forever, I just say when someone is rubbish at the moment then he should be dropped whatever his name is. Please everyone, watch the highlights of the last Valencia game and you’ll see how many mistakes Lampard did. The only good things he did were to injure Albelda and the free-kick when the ball found Ballack’s head. Other than that you’ll see misspasses, wide shots, losing balls, wasted free-kicks and corners. I’m not going to continue this debate. I will praise him only if his presence will not cost us the Champions League trophey, you see I am not even demanding a goal or assist from him.
As for the Champions League semis, I’m strongly convinced that the Champion will come out of the Chelsea-Liverpool tie like it was 2 years ago. Back then the team which beat Barcelona in the 2nd round lost the tie, i.e. Chelsea. May it be the same this year.
31. darren
midfield decider - before the valencia game you said valencia will win and we won. now you’re saying liverpool win. i can understand such negativity from an arsenal fan because of their horrible form. for a fan of team like chelsea who is performing superbly, you’re way too pessimistic. do you say these because if it happens so it makes you say ‘i told you so’? is that why you say these or you dont want to build up expectations in your own mind? i dont understand your psyche.
32. Adonis
M_D, only one of the corners Lamps took didn’t look dangerous, near the end of the first half. Other than that, the freekicks were wonderful. He deserved to play the ninety minutes and was justified. Besides… you keep saying he doesn’t deserve to play when he plays rubbish (I agree with that fully, when a player has a bad couple of weeks, he should practice sitting down on the bench a bit)… But who in the world would we play instead of him????? SWP? Forget about it. Makalele? Mikel is far better, and two defensive mids are worse than the Ballack-Lampard dilema. The thing is, Lampard is the only option we have, no matter what.
Darren, M_D has the right to say what he wants… We all have the concerns he has to some extent. Besides, when did he say he expects Liverpool to win??
33. darren
adonis - read the last line of comment #30.
34. Manish
Darren , you got it wrong…MD said team which ousted Barca in 2nd round…and it is LPool this time….so he meant to say that LPool looses this itme….
35. Manish
Darren , you got it wrong…MD said team which ousted Barca in 2nd round…and it is LPool this time….so he meant to say that LPool looses this time….
36. darren
Apologies md and all. Misunderstanding from my side.
37. joeblue
Adonis— I hav never claimed to call JM the best or the worst but only review his decisions and styles of play , remember no manager is the best or worst and definately not one-off results he still has to win us the CL , look at SAF he has won 29 titles and his team won 7-1 , what wld u call him?? Best manager in the galaxy?????
Everybody relax guys , yes we hav won but i doubt half of u wld support Lamps if we had lost , he is more of a liability nowadays than the player he usually is and shld be , and u anonymous in comment # 29 just cuz Lamps shouldered us during that emergency phase does not in any way mean that he will play every match for sure even on such a form!!!!!
I wld suggest the following midfield——- Essien Ballack Mikel J.Cole!!!!!
38. Anonymous
joeblue since you started feeling ballack can be chosen over lampard. all the while you were saying ballack is a bad signing and he shouldnt play and all. he has suddenly become a darling, hasn’t he?
39. joeblue
Hey ‘anonymous’ since when did u start caring whos the darling and whos not , u dont even hav a proper name to reply to , Ballack gives more options than Lamps at the moment because of his height and strength , right now Lamps gives the team nothing , and who do u suggest we play somebody from the street whos name nobody knows?????
40. How I Met Your Mom :) » Blog Archive » Champions League 2nd leg match
[...] Valencia 1-2 Chelsea: The Incredibles! [...]
1-0 should be 3-0 to them, comon we need more urgency!!its going to be difficult to score 2, but if anyone can do it, we can!!!
\come on chelsea
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