Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea made a giant stride towards booking their place in the last four of the Champions League as the Blues handed a 2-0 defeat to FC Porto in Seville on Wednesday night.
Goals from Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell proved ample for the Blues to take the victory from the first leg as Tuchel’s side put out an emphatic showing following their recent defeat to West Brom in top-flight football.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
FC Porto enjoyed a fair share of the possession early on in the first half but were unable to get the better of Chelsea No.1 Mendy who was in brilliant form between the sticks over the course of the 90 minutes.
22 – Mason Mount has become @ChelseaFC's youngest ever goalscorer in a UEFA Champions League knockout match (22y 87d). His goal was from the Blues' first shot of the evening. Emergence. pic.twitter.com/9Ejz4sr2Is
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) April 7, 2021
Chelsea’s relatively slow start to the game bore an immediate fruit when Mason Mount positioned himself in a fantastic manner to strike the ball from 20 yards out which ended up in the far corner of Porto goal giving the Blues a well-earned 1-0 lead at the half-hour mark.
Nearing the end of the opening 45 minutes, Porto’s Pepe forced a good save from the Blues goalie as both teams sought to renew the battle after the break.
Mendy was called into action yet again after play had resumed, this time from Moussa Marega’s effort as the Porto forward ran in behind the Chelsea backline to cause trouble.
A teasing delivery into the box from Reece James found the lurking Cesar Azpilicueta but the skipper’s header was tame enough to trouble Porto goalie Marchesin.
Thomas Tuchel bolstered his attacking options on the pitch with Olivier Giroud and Pulisic but it was the wing-back Ben Chilwell who doubled Chelsea’s advantage as he made the most of Jesus Corona’s error by pouncing upon the ball and calmly slotting it past Marchesin to make it 2-0 for the away side.
The sounding out of the final whistle marked the end of the first leg showdown and Thomas Tuchel’s men finished the game well-earned victors ahead of next week’s showdown at the same venue in Spain.
