Chelsea held on to achieve the Champions League semi-finals with a 2-1 mixture win regardless of Mehdi Taremi’s beautiful overhead kick in added time handing Porto a 1-0 victory within the quarter-final second leg on Tuesday.
The substitute had been answerable for his facet’s solely try on course as they chased a 2-0 deficit from final week’s first leg however he offered an emphatic response in a cagey recreation together with his acrobatic strike deep into added time.
Thomas Tuchel’s facet had a wholesome lead from final week’s away recreation in Seville and needed to stand up to an intense begin from Porto of their dwelling leg again on the Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, the venue of each video games attributable to Portugal’s coronavirus restrictions.
Porto’s Jesus Corona closed down Chelsea’s Edouard Mendy early on however didn’t profit from the keeper’s botched move. The Mexican winger missed one other good probability later within the half when he shuffled previous Ben Chilwell within the space solely to blast over the crossbar.
Chelsea’s Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic every got here near breaking the impasse after the interval however the Londoners have been extra targeted on preserving Porto at bay.
“We accepted what was needed, it was a tough, tough fight,” Tuchel informed BT Sport.
“Maybe on the television it was not so nice to watch but on the sidelines it was a very intense game, a very fast game. It was very hard to play against them to escape the pressure but with every minute we did it better and better.”
Highlights:
Taremi’s last-gasp strike prevented them from preserving a clear sheet however Chelsea nonetheless managed to achieve the semi-finals of Europe’s high competitors for the primary time since 2014.
They will meet both Liverpool or Real Madrid within the final 4, with the Spaniards holding a 3-1 lead within the different tie forward of Wednesday’s second leg.
MOUNT: CHELSEA ‘WORKED SOCKS OFF’
“We’re buzzing, it doesn’t get better than that,” mentioned Chelsea’s Mount.
“We could have played better but just getting through was at the forefront of our minds and we did that tonight. “We knew as a team we had to work our socks off. We knew what the final result was if we won.”
Porto coach Sergio Conceicao mentioned he was “extremely proud” of his facet for going toe-to-toe with the richer Premier League facet, who spent greater than 10 instances as a lot cash as his facet in final 12 months’s switch window.
“We did not let Chelsea’s players, who are of the highest level, create many chances,” he mentioned.
Goalscorer Taremi added: “We played a great game, we showed that we are a great team, but unfortunately my goal wasn’t enough.”
Taremi was suspended for the primary leg together with high scorer Sergio Oliveira and began the sport on the bench after selecting up a knock in Porto’s win at Tondela on the weekend.
The Iranian striker was launched halfway via the second half and immediately gave his facet extra chunk in assault, turning into their first participant to check Mendy despite the fact that his header lacked sufficient venom to beat the keeper.
Mendy was powerless to cease his thunderous volley however Porto had lower than two minutes of added time to search out one other purpose to pressure extra-time and Chelsea clung on to their benefit.
