Chelsea faced Rennes away from home in their Champions League group stage match. It was Olivier Giroud who walked on to the pitch as a late substitute and delivered a match-winning header in the dying minutes of the game. Alongside Sevilla’s 2-1 victory over Krasnodar, it signifies the Spanish side and Chelsea has qualified from Group E for the last 16 and will effectively contest the top place in Sevilla next week.
Chelsea did enter the Roazhon Park on a five match-winning streak which involves their 3-0 win over a ten-man Rennes at Stamford Bridge and it was instantly reflected in the comfort and fluidity with which they moved the ball, suppressing the home’s team’s defence.
In this season, Callum Hudson-Odoi did start only 4 times, and 2 of them in the Carabao Cup. He made it clear and straight that he is going to get better. It was his strong vision that gave him one of the first clear opportunities as he glided through the Rennes lines, finding out the Timo Wener with a cross after an immediate combination with César Azpilicueta only for the German striker to shoot it over the bar from 6 yards. It was a ridiculous miss.
While Werner was struggling after his miss, the energy of Hudson-Odoi on the right was contagious. After half an hour his hard-work was rewarded as Mason Mount delivered a brilliant lob deep in Chelsea’s half to find Hudson-Odoi, who sauntered through and coolly rolled a low finish into the net.
However, this was quite a different game from Chelsea’s home fixture in which Rennes had acknowledged a penalty after 10 minutes and then Dalbart was very harshly sent off for a handball after giving away a second penalty. The French side was very courageous in London even after dropping two goals behind. Here, just after riding out another clear opportunity from Mount, they bounced back very quickly and finished the second half on the front foot.
Although all the eyes were focusing on the return of Eduardo Camavinga, it was another 18-year old player of Rennes, Jérémy Doku of Belgium who was like a threat throughout. Chelsea’s magic of the first hour was gone and Rennes committed themselves to the game as the Blues were struggling to break down the solid defence of French’s team.
The final 15 minutes were like the most confused one. Édouard Mendy came back to Rennes for the first time since he signed for Chelsea and made a prompt sequel of saves. After rejecting Serhou Guirassy, who was very clear on the goal, Mendy jerked off a spectacular dual save from the subsequent corner, keeping out the powerful header of Gerzino Nyamsi.
All the positivity could have been sucked out from the French team had the Blues taken all the early opportunities but the substitutes took the final minutes in their hands and helped to secure a narrow win. Hakim Ziyech took the ball and fed it to Werner, whose shot was protected by the goalkeeper, Alfred Gomis. As the ball was flying into the air and looked like It got to hang there for a moment, Giroud welcomed it with his forehead and leapt up to give Lampard a sixth victory in a row.
Throughout his career, Giroud has so frequently mastered timing. Both at Chelsea and Arsenal, the 34-year old’s stability has enabled him to recover from the setbacks and make his ability and presence clear whenever he finds himself on the bench for long periods or he has fallen out of favor.
In this scenario, a lot of discussions have centred on his entire future after Didier Deschamps’ declaration that Giroud should need to find another club and play more to earn a position in France’s Euro 2020 squad. This goal proves how much he is capable of changing a game within a few minutes.
