Holders, Bayern Stutter in Germany as Chilwell Goal Ensures Impressive First Leg Advantage for Chelsea

Chelsea travelled to the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in desperate need of a response to Saturday’s drubbing at the hands of West Brom, and Thomas Tuchel’s side delivered.

Mason Mount opened the scoring shortly after the half-hour mark, nicely controlling Jorginho’s pass on the half-turn before finishing into the far corner to score his maiden UEFA Champions League goal at the 15th attempt.

Cesar Azpilicueta squandered a glorious chance to give Chelsea some breathing space when he headed Reece James’ cross over from six yards, before substitute, Christian Pulisic went even closer when he rattled the underside of the bar six minutes from time.

Nevertheless, Chilwell followed in Mount’s footsteps with a stunning first Champions League goal as well, as he capitalised on a miss-control from Porto’s Corona, drove into the area, and calmly rounded the goalkeeper before slotting into an empty post five minutes from time.

Porto would feel they should have had a goal after showing flashes of why they were able to knock out Italian giants, Juventus in the round of 16. However, some lacklustre finishing from them and Edouard Mendy’s leadership were enough to ensure that the Chelsea rear guard was impenetrable.

Chelsea have only conceded 2 goals in this year’s UCL and are tied with Manchester City on both goals conceded and clean sheets kept. Solid!

The victory and two away goals leave Chelsea in complete control of the tie ahead of next week’s return leg at the same venue, where they aim to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2014.

In the other encounter on the night, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar inspired PSG to edge Champions, Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, in what was a pulsating encounter. Mbappe’s opener was fumbled by Manuel Neuer into the bottom corner with less than three minutes on the clock at a snow-covered park, as Mauricio Pochettino’s side threw themselves at everything from the first whistle to the last.

The french champions soon added another before half-time after Bayern switched off from a corner and left Marquinhos to turn Neymar’s ball forward beyond Neuer, although the PSG captain was injured in the process and forced off moments later.

Former PSG striker, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting pulled a goal back for the German champions just before half-time, heading home from a delicious Benjamin Pavard cross.

The Bavarians would have had the idea of a different result in their heads when Joshua Kimmich’s cross found Thomas Muller inside the area as he again, headed past Keylor Navas to haul them level on the hour mark.

However, Neymar and Mbappe continued to cause real problems for the host and combined to punish Bayern again for PSG’s third, eight minutes after Bayern’s equaliser, Mbappe’s cheeky finish inside Neuer’s near post giving the French side a sensational first-leg advantage – and three away goals – ahead of Tuesday’s second leg at the Parc des Princes.

In the process, they stopped Bayern from setting a new club record of 20 European Cup games without defeat, by inflicting the Hansi Flick led German outfit their first loss in the Champions League since Liverpool beat them 3-1 at the Allianz Arena in March 2019.

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