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Scored: Guirassy (85) – Hudson-Odoi (22); Giroud (90 + 1)
Ahead of the trip to France to face host Rennes in the 2020/21 Group E Champions League fourth round, Chelsea put in a great showing – the last 5 wins in all competitions and the unbeaten streak has risen to the figure. 12. Chelsea’s last defeat was against Liverpool (0-2) on September 20.
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Many bright spots have appeared in the last 2 months. First, defense ability has improved significantly – keep the last 6/7 games clean. The appearance of goalkeeper Mendy, the departure of Kurt Zouma, the maturity of Reece James, the excellent adaptability of Ben Chilwell and the experience of Thiago Silva have helped Chelsea gradually overcome the weakness of the defense. .
Positivity also appears on the offensive front: 16 goals / last 5 games. Timor Werner, Tammy Abraham are making a good pair in attack. Hakim Ziyech increases the creative capacity and mutation in the way Chelsea play. Also, the overwhelming force of the Blues’ attack force means that everyone has to play their best to consolidate their position in the main team.
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| Chelsea match table |
Due to the dense schedule plus strong strength and respectable depth, it is easy to understand Chelsea’s player turnover. For example, in this match, Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta return to the squad instead of Reece James and Rudiger. On the public line, Ziyech is in tip-top shape, ready to rest on the bench and potential young star Hudson-Odoi takes his place. Or in the middle line, to bring in Jorginho, Coach Lampard had to “sacrifice” Kante.
Overall, despite some adjustments, basically Chelsea’s strength hasn’t budged much. While Chelsea was on the rise, Rennes was clearly on the decline. Last weekend, they just received a 0-1 defeat against Bordeaux at home. More generally, Rennes has lost 5 of the last 6 matches and there are still 4 matches left.
The scoring should have opened very early if Timo Werner had not missed it incredibly. At 5 minutes, Hudson-Odoi tipped the ball on the right wing and reached into the 16m50 area and the German forward was present to comfortably put the ball in the sky.
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| Hudson-Odoi put Chelsea in the lead |
Despite being a guest, the Blues easily prevailed right after the opening whistle. Just the obvious opportunities like the Werner loss situation mentioned above aren’t many. But only until the 22nd minute, Chelsea opened the scoring.
Mason Mouth, coach Lampard’s beloved game, stole the ball in the home field and quickly made a long pass to Hudson-Odoi to speed up the reception of the ball, penetrating the 16m50 area before coldly “killing”. goalkeeper of direct contact.
Hudson-Odoi (born 2000) is a product of Chelsea’s training facilities, which has been strongly attracted to Bayern Munich, but the London team has kept it successful. However, as mentioned, due to the Blues being over-staffed, this young talent is not allowed to play regularly but still contributes 3 goals (including the previous one) since the start of the 2020/21 season.
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| Rennes (red) struggled after being driven down |
In the 29th minute Ben Chilwell went to great lengths to create a chance from the left wing and Mason Mount finally got to his feet to make the finish, but goalkeeper Gomis stood out to save Rennes. Soon after, the home team had their first notable attack and Lea Siliki was rarely in a position to face her former teammate Mendy, but the striker soared.
Before the end of the first half, in a corner situation, Rennes captain Damien Da Silva jumped to the top with a strong header and goalkeeper Mendy again disappointed the old club. After the break, the home team continued to do everything possible to change the course of the game.
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| In the meeting with the old team, goalkeeper Mendy played well |
The challenges have increased for Chelsea, but basically, they are still in control thanks to the superiority in terms of class and quality of the team. In the first half of the second half, Rennes did not have another threatening situation as the visitors collapsed with the intention of coming back.
This weekend Chelsea will have to play a derby with neighboring Tottenham who are in very good shape this season (temporarily leading the Premier League table) so it is perfectly reasonable to think about that match. Exactly until minute 74 the first dangerous situation appeared in the second half.
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| Still, Mendy was defeated at the end of the match. |
Still from a corner, Nyamsi headed in from less than 10 meters, and despite taking a hit, Mendy finally hugged the ball just over the line. Towards the end of the match, Rennes agreed to take risks because if they lost this match, they would be officially eliminated in the Champions League and would only have the goal of competing for third place to reach the Europa League.
And besides, the local team is also well paid. In the 85th minute, there was another “header” but this time Serhou Guirassy defeated Mendy. The two had a brief stint together in Rennes because not long after Guirassy joined Rennes, Mendy left for Chelsea.
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| Fortunately for Chelsea, Giroud shone in the first stoppage to bring victory and the ticket to continue for the England team. |
But in minute 90 ‘+ 1, Chelsea regained the lead of the match, which meant the match. Grenier’s mistake, the visitors staged a quick attack and Ziyech gave Werner a chance to face the opponent. However, the German striker was too good to finish. Luckily, Giroud showed his hunting instincts when he appeared in the correct position and the ball shot out to hit Rennes head-on.
Thus, with a dramatic 2-1 victory in Rennes, Chelsea officially won the right to the knockout stages of the Champions League two games earlier because, at the same time, Sevilla also beat Russia’s Krasnodar with a score of 2 -1. Both Chelsea and Sevilla, after 4 games with 10 points, more than the other two teams to 9 points, should have led to continue.
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| Match specifications Rennes 1-2 Chelsea |
However, Coach Lampard will need to improve on some issues, including Werner’s ungainly defensive ability and the defensive ability of defenders in fixed situations. Meanwhile, among questions related to the future, Giroud showed everyone what he is worth.
TEAM
RENNES (4-3-3): Alfred Gomis; Gerzino Nyamsi, Damien Da Silva (c), Adrien Truffert (Maouassa 86 ‘), Hamari Traore; Eduardo Camavinga (Grenier 78 ‘), Steven Nzonzi, Benjamin Bourigeaud (Niang 86 ‘); Jeremy Doku (Gboho 86 ‘), James Lea Siliki (Del Castillo 63’), Serhou Guirassy.
CHELSEA (4-2-3-1): Edouard Mendy; Ben Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Kurt Zouma, Cesar Azpilicueta (c); Mason Mount (Kante 69 ‘), Jorginho, Mateo Kovacic (Havertz 76’); Callum Hudson-Odoi (Ziyech 75 ‘), Timo Werner (Reece James 90’ + 3), Tammy Abraham (Giroud 70 ‘).
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| Classification in Group E after 4/6 games. Chelsea vs Sevilla have officially earned the right to continue |
