Carbon copy: how Chelsea and Bayern beat Atletico and Lazio out of the Champions League

Chelsea counterattacks destroy Atlético

The team of Thomas Tuchel from the first minutes established a monopoly on the control of the ball and the pace with it.

The Spaniards had only to adapt, which required a colossal expenditure of physical strength on movement, followed by selection attempts.

It turned out unconvincing and ineffective: in the opening quarter of an hour, the London club had 76 percent of the possession, which is why Diego Simeone's team did not cross the middle of the field in principle.

A little later, the owners of Stamford Bridge eased the pressure, but this did not radically change the balance of power on the field.

Moreover, this led to the ball into the opponent's goal.

“Atlético”, after a standard at the opponent's goal, missed a counterattack - and the British exemplarily transformed Kieran Trippier's lurid canopy from the right flank into a goal.

Ngolo Kante successfully interrupted the riding gear, Kai Havertz processed the stem and launched Timo Werner into the race across the half-field.

He literally got rid of the guardianship of Stefan Savich and rolled the ball to Hakim Ziyech, who deceived Yan Oblak with the first blow to someone else's target, sending the ball into the opposite direction ...

All this Chelsea turned at lightning speed - the same speed that Luis Suarez and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco lacked throughout the evening.

Several times, the red and white casts through the air sent their attackers into the sprint behind the English backs.

But the most that the goalscorers could squeeze out of these interactions was a fall in the penalty area of ​​Eduard Mendy.

In the case of the Uruguayan, there was nothing to argue about.

But the Portuguese referee Daniele Orsato had reason to reprimand.

The referee had his own truth.

The referee allowed the teams to fight and play hard: the whistles (and, as a result, yellow cards) were heard only in cases with obvious fouls or excessive rudeness - Havertz, Jose Jimenez and Renan Lodi, earned by warning, will not allow lying.

Therefore, Orsato was above suspicion for consistency and refusal to break the structure of the game by stopping for nothing.

The only episode when the Italian really focused the attention of the match participants on himself happened in the 80th minute.

The referee interrupted the drawing of the corner by the Spaniards in order to remove Savic for rudeness.

The elbow blow to the solar plexus of Antonio Rüdiger may not have been the strongest, but it was accented and done on the sly.

Before the incident, Orsato had already warned the Montenegrin man several times about illegal actions, but the judge's words had no effect.

However, by that time, "Atlético" had actually laid down their arms.

Simeone replaced Suarez, admitting that the striker lost his usefulness in away matches of the League back in 2015.

Then, having scored against Roma, the Uruguayan happily made faces at Mohammed Salah, Luke Dinh, Edin Dzeko and all the same Rudiger.

But I could not even imagine that then for 25 matches outside the home stadium in the Champions League he would take a goal break.

It is unlikely that João Felix also thought about this, who at first was looking for Suarez with passes, and then, disappointed, he himself began to hit out of nowhere.

But the result, in one case, in another, turned out to be negative - under Tuchel, Chelsea conceded only twice in a dozen matches.

And I certainly wasn't going to spoil those statistics at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

Finally, the very idea of ​​the Spanish team, which needed to be developed into goals and victories, turned out to be misunderstood.

“Atlético” all evening worked as the second number, moving behind the British in a shadow.

But he stubbornly lagged behind a step and, as a result, lost in dynamics and looked inert in those minutes when he had to dictate conditions.

Chelsea, which, on the contrary, had more than enough strength and energy, once again took advantage of the opponent's weakness in the end.

Substitute Emerson Palmieri supported another counter-attack at top speed, doubled the lead with the first touch and de jure qualified Chelsea for the quarterfinals of the tournament.

Bayern and Lewandowski rewrote records

The three-goal reserve created by Bayern in the away match against Lazio allowed Hans-Dieter Flick to make a number of changes to the squad without fear of the result.

That is why the reserve goalkeeper Alexander Nybel, and Benjamin Pavar, who returned after injury, and Luca Hernandez, who fell victim to the progress of Alfonso Davis, got the chances at the base.

However, this did not affect the fighting efficiency of the tournament champion: at Allianz Arena, the hosts justified their status from the starting whistle to the final whistle.

Is that the pressure offered the opponent less aggressive than in Rome.

Therefore, the team of Simone Inzaghi looked prettier in comparison with the February battle.

Even on the goal, spent in the end by Marco Parolo, the guests played enough - the transition phase every now and then they developed well.

And sooner or later, quantity had to turn into quality.

True, the ball in the 84th minute can only be called a goal of prestige.

After all, by that time, Bayern had twice upset Pepe Reina and once again made them praise Robert Lewandowski in every way.

The Pole scored the 20th goal in the Champions League (albeit from a penalty spot), if we count from the start of last season, and even more broke away from his pursuers in matters of implementation.

In addition, he extended the fantastic form of 2021: only in three games out of 16, the striker left the field with nothing.

Also worthy of mention is the author of the second ball, Max Shupo-Moting.

After all, his blow went down in history as the thousandth goal of Bayern in all European competitions.

More on account only of the Spanish giants - Barcelona (1138) and Real (1169).

The Catalans will no longer be able to replenish their piggy bank this season.

But Flick brought his team to the quarterfinals, which for the first time in the history of the Champions League brought together as many as four German coaches at such a late stage of the tournament.

He hardly wants to hit Tuchel or Jurgen Klopp.

But to fight with Edin Terzic in the framework of the great derby of the Bundesliga, but on the European stage, would certainly be interesting.

Moreover, Bayern just recently beat Borussia with difficulty (4: 2).

The uniqueness of the reported victory of the Munich team lies in the fact that they made it to the quarterfinals of the tournament for the 19th time.

It is also a new continental achievement, formerly sponsored by Barcelona.

To design it, the Flick team needed to knock out the last Italian team represented in the 2020/21 season.

Serie A with the departure of Lazio finally lost its gloss of grandeur: for the first time since 2016, all of its representatives dropped out of the trophy race so early.