Chelsea and Valencia played one of the most entertaining draws of group fixtures in the recent memory of UEFA Champions League at the Mestalla stadium on Wednesday.
In the Group H match, both the teams were avoiding a defeat, while a win would have put Valencia in a more comfortable position.
However, it were Chelse who showed more determination to go for the win and secure their knockout berth. The visitors started the game on a positive note and came all guns blazing, while the hosts defended deep into their half to weather the storm.
Following the Blues’ failed attempt to open the scoring, Valencia drew the first blood when Carlos Soler found a cross from Rodrigo inside Chelsea’s box. The midfielder had a great run in the penalty area and volleyed it past Kepa Arrziabalaga to give the home team the lead in the 40th minute.
But, it took Frank Lampard’s boy only a minute to equalise as Mateo Kovacic smashed his delivery into the left bottom corner of the net to finally clear his goal drought of almost three years.
Five minutes into the second half, Christian Pulisic found Kurt Zouma’s delivery and dribbled past Valencia’s defence to put Chelsea in the lead before the VAR team had lengthy looks into the goal and finally approved it.
As the home team pushed hard for an equaliser, Chelsea, in their bid to defend with all their might, committed a mistake and conceded a penalty. Jorginho was found to have fouled Gaya and the referee did not waste any time to direct towards the penalty spot. But as it turned out, Kepa denied Valencia the chance to equalise.
The home team were finally paid for their restless efforts in the most unprecedented manner. Daniel Wass, trying to play a cross into the opponent’ box, got lucky as his delivery took an opposite swing and ended up in Chelsea’s net.
Valencia are scheduled for an away tie against Ajax, who are at the top of the group with 10 points. Chelsea, on the other hand, will host Lille for their last group tie.
