London (AFP)

With three goals on the hour Chelsea managed to come back to 4-4 against Ajax Amsterdam reduced to 9, Tuesday, in Group H of the Champions League.

At the end of this crazy game, the situation of the group is very tight, since the Blues and Ajax are tied with Valencia, winner of Lille at home 4 to 1, with 7 points, while the French are good last with 1 point.

This match will undoubtedly leave regrets to the two teams, each having the feeling to have been able to win in a game where the arbitration has once again weighed.

For an hour, the Dutch gave the lesson to Londoners reminded of their defensive deficiencies that could be crippling if they pass this first round.

Hyper realistic, and displaying a good control in the game, Ajax had taken an advantage that seemed definitive.

The Blues had conceded two goals against their side on set-pieces by Tammy Abraham (0-1, 2nd) and Kepa (1-3, 35th), unhappy to see Hakim Ziyech's superb "mini-corner" hitting the post opposite before bouncing off his face and entering.

Quincy Promes had benefited from a lack of attention from Cesar Azpilicueta to score the lead (1-2, 20th) and the goal of Donny van de Beek from a precise ground shot early in the second period , owed nothing to anyone (1-2, 55th).

But we quickly felt that this game smelled crazy.

Barely led, Chelsea joined Ajax on a penalty following a slalom Christian Pulisic and transformed by Jorginho (1-1, 4th).

The great merit of Frank Lampard's men has been to never stop believing in them, like the rush of raging Kurt Zouma, author of leg stuffing that we did not know able to eliminate Daley Blind to entrance to the surface, even if his shot went into the clouds (47th).

The action made Lampard smile on his bench that said to himself that, decidedly, everything was possible. And the result proved him right.

- Boxing match -

It was first Azpilicueta who, as a good captain, was forgiven for his culpable inattention of the first act by reducing the score to 4-2 (63).

The match has definitely rocked into the irrational on a sequence started by an ugly fault of Daley Blind on Abraham.

Before sending him a deserved second yellow card, the referee let the action continue and Callum Hudson-Odoi sent a shot that hit the hand of Joel Veltman, causing a second penalty, quite contestable this one, for the English.

So questionable that Veltman, already warned in the first period, also took a second warning for protest and Ajax ended up at 9 for the last 20 minutes.

Jorginho did not pray to convert the opportunity (3-4, 71st) and three minutes later, it is the young Reece James (19 years) who brought Chelsea up to his opponent in a Stamford Bridge in fusion.

The sequel looked like a boxing match, with Ajax cornering the ropes but looking for the hard blow like Edson Alvarez's kicking shot that Kepa pushed back with his full-length run (86th).

Chelsea thought he'd snatch a few minutes earlier from Azpilicueta (78th), but the VAR has detected a very real hand from Abraham and the ruthless rule that any hand-contact by an attacker in the opponent's area is worthless. Frank has cooled the English in full delirium.

If nobody smiled frankly on leaving the field, this match will still be remembered by the players, who gave everything.

© 2019 AFP