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Bucharest (AP) - After a spectacular overhead kick dream hit from Olivier Giroud, coach Thomas Tuchel has the best chances of making it into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with Chelsea.
In the first real endurance test for Tuchel as coach of the London football club, the Blues were victorious 1-0 (0-0) against Atlético Madrid on Tuesday evening in Bucharest - and thus remained undefeated in the eighth game under the former Mainz and Dortmund coach.
A draw on March 17th at Stamford Bridge would be enough for the Tuchel team to qualify for the top eight.
The only goal in the first leg of the last sixteen was Frenchman Giroud in the 68th minute at the Bucharest National Stadium.
The home game of the Spaniards had to be moved to the Romanian capital due to the Corona travel restrictions.
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After just under two minutes, the stormy Spaniards almost took the lead: After a blunder and almost foul by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, Atlético captain Koke was no longer in the shooting position.
Thomas Lemar narrowly missed the first real chance after a fine pass from Luis Suárez (14th).
But Tuchel's team with the DFB national players Antonio Rüdiger and Timo Werner in the starting eleven was then in the game after a quarter of an hour.
In the largely balanced duel, which was confidently led by German referee Felix Brych, the Blues only rarely set goal-threatening accents.
And even after the break, there were hardly any high-profile chances - most of the actions took place between the penalty areas.
Brych only gave Giroud's goal after the video assistant had checked an alleged offside position.
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Last year, Tuchel was even in the final of the premier class - but with Paris Saint-Germain - the French lost the final 0: 1 against Bayern Munich.
Chelsea had moved into the knockout phase as group winners, Atlético only survived the preliminary round thanks to two wins against Salzburg.
«I think we are at eye level,» Timo Werner said before the duel in the «Kicker» interview.
Whether the former Leipzig will keep the right will be shown on March 17th.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210223-99-565603 / 3
All the facts about the game and the teams at uefa.com
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