clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Chelsea vs. Valencia, Champions League: Live blog

...as it happened: lineups, updates, highlights, live blog

Chelsea FC v Valencia CF: Group H - UEFA Champions League Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

LIVE BLOG

90+4min: FULL TIME. Chelsea lose, 1-0.

90+3min: Barkley finds Pedro out wide, and he’s taken out by Gaya just outside the penalty area, wide right. Alonso goes for goal, but Cillessen punches clear at the top corner, near post. Willian’s corner is cleared, and that’s that. Barkley plays it back in, but Christensen’s header floats wide of the far post.

90min: One more change from Valencia as the goalscorer goes off. 4 minutes added on.

87min: Barkley stands over the penalty as Abraham and Willian trudge away. Barkley composes himself, takes aim, and HITS THE CROSSBAR. Oops.

85min: Willian takes the next corner as well, finding Tomori at the far post, but his header is blocked. Claims for a handball, as it hits Wass, but it looked quite accidental. VAR reviews anyway, and calls the on-pitch referee for a pitchside review. Cakir takes a few seconds to look at it, then awards the penalty!

83min: Chelsea ratcheting up the pressure and Barkley wins a corner. Willian takes, but Cillessen punches clear. Pedro tries a follow-up shot from the top of the box, but that’s blocked as well.

80min: Pedro steams forward on the right and tries to find Willian breaking into the box, but the connection isn’t there and Valencia clear.

79min: Barkley on for Kovacic as Chelsea look for a late goal or two.

78min: Kovacic finds a Giroud making a run through the middle. He shift the ball onto his left and takes aim from the top of the box, straight into the belly of Cillessen, who holds on.

77min: Pedro finds Abraham in the area, but his touch is long and Valencia can clear.

74min: Goal. Rodrigo. Kovacic fouls Gaya in the center of the pitch. Parejo floats in the free kick towards the near post, Rodrigo is first to the ball, his run beating Jorginho and Abraham, and does enough to bounce the ball over and past Kepa and into the back of the net. 1-0, Valencia.

73min: Lampard mixes things up as Giroud replaces Zouma, switching to a 4-4-2/4-2-4 look.

72min: Maxi Gomez turns Zouma, laying it wide for Rodrigo. With acres of space in midfield, he opts for a wild 30-yard effort.

70min: Valencia make a couple changes, including Maxi Gomez coming on for Gameiro. Alonso’s called for a foul meanwhile out wide left, level with the penalty area. Parejo swings in the free kick, but it misses everyone.

69min: Jorginho steps in to win the ball in the center circle and Willian steams forward, playing a 1-2 with Abraham but then ignoring a wide-open Pedro on the left. Valencia eventually crowd him out. Chelsea do maintain possession, but Pedro’s chipped shot after combining with Kovacic doesn’t have the required curl.

68min: Willian takes the corner, but Valencia clear just ahead of an incoming Zouma. Valencia try to counter, but Chelsea recover well.

67min: A few nervy moments as Chelsea insist on playing out. Eventually Chelsea do and set up shop in Valencia’s half again. A good two-man game between Willian and Azpi wins Chelsea a corner as the latter’s cutback is deflected into the side-netting.

66min: Rodrigo breaks the offside trap of the high line, but Alonso recovers to poke it out for a corner. The corner’s played back towards the corner of the penalty area, where Wass hammers one vaguely towards the stands.

62min: Long ball forward finds Abraham, who knocks it on for Willian. He’s taken out about 20-25 yards from goal, central. Willian and Alonso stand over the ball; the latter takes, keeps it low and under the jumping wall, but Cillessen gets to it to push it wide for a corner. Willian takes the corner, finding Alonso, but his header is over the bar.

60min: Valencia now faster to loose balls and turn upfield, with Rodrigo almost unlocking the defence. Only a mistimed run saved a good chance.

56min: Pedro gives the ball away in midfield, then gives a foul away just outside the corner of the penalty area. Parejo swings it in, Alonso heads clear for a corner. Parejo takes that as well, and it’s a well-worked set piece as Chelsea switch off, giving Gameiro acres of space to shoot from 15 yards out. Fortunately, he gets it all wrong and it flies harmlessly over the bar.

53min: Valencia keeping the ball for a minute, in mostly non-threatening positions. Zouma, Christensen, and Kepa eventually combine to clear.

49min: Cheryshev with a hopeful effort from distance. Not close.

48min: Willian and Azpi play a 1-2 but the latter’s cross is blocked for a corner. Willian takes and Valencia manage to half-clear at the second time of asking. Chelsea keep up the pressure, but cannot find a way into the area.

46min: No changes at the half for either side as Valencia restart proceedings. Abraham presses up and manages to hurt his hand while closing down the goalkeeper. Looks okay to carry on.


HALF-TIME: Chelsea with the vast majority of the ball and the vast majority of the chances. But the game remains scoreless. Need to find that clinical edge again.

45+2min: Pedro finds Azpi with a lovely pass, he lays it on for Willian, who takes a touch and powers it at the goal from a decent angle. Cillessen blocks, but Willian gets to it before the ball rolls out. His cross just misses Alonso at the far post however.

45min: A 1-2 between Azpi and Willian doesn’t quite come off on the right side. Azpi then in the mix again but loses the battle and is called for a foul near the Valencia corner flag.

44min: Chelsea keeping up the pressure and win a corner through Azpilicueta. Willian takes, Valencia clear, but Chelsea keep possession. Alonso’s cross is blocked, then Pedro’s shot is blocked as well.

43min: Pedro’s quick burst in the left channel gives him space to cross. He pulls it back low, Abraham lays it back to Jorginho, but his goal-bound shot is blocked.

41min: Zouma gets away with a terrible clearance and Kovacic wins the ball back, and turns upfield. He plays a 1-2 with Pedro and finds Willian with a glorious ball over the top. Willian does the hard part and chests it down for himself, but lashes wildly at it with his left, skying it high into the night sky.

40min: Willian bursts through in the right channel and lays it on for Azpilicueta, but he doesn’t quite read the intent and the ball rolls out for a goal kick.

37min: Jorginho finds Alonso in acres of space. He aims a cross towards the far post, but Tammy can’t quite get to it and is then called for a push anyway.

36min: Tomori almost does it again as he dribbles through several and into the area, but instead of taking a shot, tries to play it across. It misses Abraham and Azpi at the far post gets it all wrong and skies it into the stands.

35min: Willian creates a bit of space in the middle, wriggling past two, then taking aim from the top of the box. Keeps it down, but wide.

33min: Jorginho gets a yellow for diving in studs first on a 50-50 ball with Kondogbia. Jorginho pulled out of it at the last second, which probably prevented a red.

32min: Neat movement from combination in the middle almost sees Cheryshev on the end of a pass in the area, but it just misses him and Kepa can collect.

29min: Chelsea press high, but Valencia break through and are in behind the midfield. Jorginho gets back almost in time, but it’s actually Rodrigo’s own teammate who blocks the shot.

28min: Gameiro breaks the offside trap and looks to be in all alone on the keeper, but Tomori’s quick, too, and recovers to clear for a throw.

26min: Pedro and Willian overload on the right and find Azpilicueta wide. The cross is decent, but Tammy’s header goes wide of the far post.

25min: Valencia attack through Rodrigo, with Tomori in close attention. A pass infield leads to a nice combination, but the second return ball runs long and Kepa collects.

24min: Jorginho find Willian between the lines. He looks for Pedro cutting in from the right, but the pass is just slightly mistimed.

22min: Chelsea pinch the ball in midfield and Willian powers forward but does not see the options to his left, so doubles back. Eventually the ball does switch to the left but Alonso’s cross is blocked for a corner, which is then cleared at the far post.

21min: Valencia come again, finding Gameiro breaking beyond the back line. Tomori recovers and defends well 1-v-1, before Christensen hacks it clear for a throw.

20min: Valencia venture forward for the first time, but Tomori’s there block Wass’s cross. Unfortunately, Pedro blocks the clearance and Valencia keep the ball. They work it around to the left and find Gaya with a ball over the top. His header is on target, but easily caught by Kepa.

18min: Jorginho sprays wide to Alonso, but his low cross is cleared by the second defender.

17min: Kovacic chips in for Abraham, he chests down, turns, shoots low, but straight at Cillessen, who saves. Abraham called for a handball in the process anyway.

15min: Mount has been struggling since the injury and sure enough, cannot carry on. He looks absolutely devastated. Pedro comes on to replace him.

14min: Kovacic nicks the ball away in midfield, but is tackled by Gabriel before he could release Abraham. Need to be a bit faster there.

11min: Mount carries on. Willian takes the free kick, but it’s very poor and Cillessen collects.

9min: Coquelin gets a yellow for his follow-through on a clearance, which left Mount in a painful heap, holding his ankle. Looks bad on replay, as Pedro goes for a warm-up jog.

8min: A deep cross from Azpi is misplayed by the right back, but Kondogbia is there to clear for a corner just ahead of Abraham. Mount swings it in, but Valencia manage to smuggle it away. Abraham briefly appeals for a handball.

6min: Wonderful interchanges up the right flank lead to an Azpilicueta cross from the byline. Tammy gets to it first, but Cillessen blocks it for a corner at the near post. Alonso gets a head to the corner, but it’s an easy save for the goalkeeper.

4min: First-time ball over the top from Jorginho just a bit too long for Abraham. Very Conte-esque, that play.

2min: Jorginho here, there, everywhere in midfield, winning the ball back, but a long ball from deep is astray and Cillessen collects. At the other end, Christensen makes a good covering tackle.

KICK-OFF: Just the one change for Chelsea, enforced with Rüdiger’s injury as Zouma comes in. There’s the anthem. There are the handshakes. And we’re ready to go! Chelsea get us underway.


Welcome back to the big time. Tuesday night, under the lights. Champions League.

The Chaaaaaaampions!

It’s a third place team versus a fourth place team in reality, though Chelsea did win the Europa League and Valencia did win the Copa del Rey.

Champions!

Here we go.


Chelsea starting lineup (3-4-3):
Arrizabalaga | Tomori, Christensen, Zouma | Alonso, Kovacic, Jorginho, Azpilicueta (c) | Mount, Abraham, Willian

Substitutes from: Caballero, Guehi, Barkley, Pedro, Pulisic, Giroud, Batshuayi

Valencia starting (4-4-2):
Cillessen | Gaya, Gabriel, Garay, Wass | Cheryshev, Kondogbia, Parejo (c), Coquelin | Gameiro, Rodrigo

Substitutes from: Domenech, Jaume Costa, Goncalo Guedes, Diakhaby, Lee, Torres, Maxi Gomez


Date / Time: Tuesday, September 17, 2019, 20:00 BST; 3pm EDT; 12:30am IST (next day)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, SW6
Referee: Cuneyt Çakir

On TV: BT Sport 3 (UK); none (USA); Sony Six (India); elsewhere
Streaming: BT Sport Live (UK); B/R Live: $2.99, TUDNxtra (USA); Sony LIV (India)


Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes!

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for the We Ain't Got No History Daily Roundup newsletter!

A daily roundup of Chelsea news from We Ain't Got No History