Chelsea beat AC Milan for a second time in the lead of Champions League Group E with a 2-0 win at San Siro on Tuesday, a match the hosts had to play most of the time in ten men .
In an effort to take advantage of last week’s 3-0 win over the Italian side, Chelsea’s task at the famous AC Milan stadium became easier after defender Fikayo Tomori was sent off against his former team and AC Milan suffered a penalty kick at 17 ‘.
Jorginho scored from the spot after Milan’s protests subsided before striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 34th minute.
Despite the lack of numbers, in the second half some important opportunities were missed for Milan, as winger Sergino Dest missed the most dangerous of them with a shot that from a good position goes over the goal.
But Chelsea have stayed away from facing problems most of the periods, as the win brought their score to seven points in four games, one point clear of Salzburg and three points over Milan and Dinamo Zagreb.
“Coming here and winning is not easy. Thanks to the players. They were really special,” Chelsea manager Graham Potter told BT Sport.
“We had a bit of luck because the opponent dropped to 10. It was good to take the penalty and it was good for Jorginho to score.
“It was a good step to move forward. What you saw happened. Sometimes you need the opponent. It was a good performance overall.”
Qualifying for the knockout stage seemed like a difficult task for Chelsea after a surprise defeat in the opening group match against Dinamo Zagreb, followed by a disappointing draw with Salzburg.
But victory over Milan, seven-time champions of the European Cup and Italian Serie A, last week put Chelsea back on track and improved things for the second leg in Italy.
However, England international Tomori’s mistake against Mason Mount effectively ended the game in Chelsea’s favor.
Tomori, who joined Milan from Chelsea in 2021, did not believe the referee had shown him a direct red card but the decision remained pending until the VAR was revised, making the 24-year-old the first English player to be sent off in the Champions League against an English opponent.
“The penalty kick and the red card changed everything,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told Mediaset.
Chelsea didn’t need to play with numerical superiority.
“I don’t want to take back what happened. It seems very clear to me. I don’t want to comment. I told the referee what I thought, I don’t speak English very well but I think he understood.”
Jorginho scored the penalty with confidence and the second goal was the embodiment of quality of performance with strong participation from Mount, who set the ball up for Aubameyang to continue his wonderful career as a scorer after joining Chelsea from Barcelona on last month.
Substitute Conor Gallagher could have added a third goal early in the second half, before missing another chance later in the same half, but that didn’t really matter after Chelsea easily controlled the game.
New coach Potter has scored four wins in five games in all competitions since taking over from Thomas Tuchel last month.
Dinamo drew 1-1 with Salzburg in the second match of the same group, played on Tuesday in Zagreb.
Nicholas Seifald opened the scoring for Salzburg in the 12th minute, before Robert Ljubicic equalized for Dinamo in the 40th minute.
AFP
