Chelsea progress to Champions League semi-finals for the first time since 2014 despite losing 1-0 to Porto at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium.
Substitute Mehdi Taremi scored an incredible overhead kick in the 93rd minute to win the game. However it was too late to recover a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.
Despite losing for the second time in Thomas Tuchel’s reign. It was a relatively comfortable evening for the Blues! They will face either Real Madrid or Liverpool in the final four of the competition.
Dogged defensive display from Chelsea
Chelsea have become extremely resolute in defending since Tuchel’s arrival. They came into the match with a two-goal cushion the German admitted his side used that to their advantage.
Tuchel said: ‘We accepted what was needed. It was a tough fight. Maybe it was not so nice to watch the game on television. But, from the sideline it was a very intense game
‘We had a plan defensively. You need to accept that it will be very hard against Porto because they are a very strong and aggressive side.
‘But part of a good performance is to not let your opponents perform to the best of their ability – we did that well today.
‘We defended very well and we deserved a clean sheet. We did not concede any big chances until a lucky goal at the very end. But, we also had the better chances… not a lot of them!
‘But the better chances and we could not finish them off so we had to hang in there. The players did that and overall we deserved to beat Porto after a tough 180 minutes.’
Game of few opportunities
The match was scrappy with few clear cut chances for either team as Chelsea were happy to sit back and defend their two goal lead from the first leg.
Jesus Corona had the only real chance of the first half after the winger pounced on a misplaced pass from Edouard Mendy to have a shot. Jorginho was able to recover in time to block the goal-bound effort and spare Mendy’s blushes.
In the rare occasion the Porto got in behind the Chelsea defence the Portuguese side wasted their chance. It was Corona again with a rushed effort that sailed over the bar from a tight angle.
A tight second-half
The same pattern followed after the break as Chelsea sat back and looked to hit on the counter at Porto had to throw caution to the wind in an attempt to salvage the tie.
Christian Pulisic was the Blues’ bright spark and everything good from Chelsea came through the American in the second half.
Pulisic miscued a chance to seal the victory just after the break. Ben Chilwell’s cut back came too quick for the winger to sort out his feet and direct the ball on goal.
Pulisic was at the heart of the play again as Mason Mount raced through on goal but Wilson Manafa did incredibly to recover and block the Englishman’s shot.
It took until the 65th minute for Porto to record their first shot on target in the game as substitute Taremi had a tame header which was easily gathered by Mendy.
Despite not being too adventurous in the match, Chelsea had the better chances and again it was Pulisic who had a chance to win the match but this time it was Pepe who made a last ditch block to keep the scores level.
The tie seemed complete when the two best moments of the match came around. Pulisic was played through on goal by Hakim Ziyech but couldn’t put the ball past Agustin Marchesin. This was the Blues’ first shot on target in the 92nd minute.
Porto then went down the other end of the pitch and a hopeful cross into the box from Nanu was extraordinarily diverted into the top corner of the goal by Taremi in the final action of the match.
