Chelsea Vs. Zilina: Late Florent Malouda Goal Preserves Perfect Chelsea

It took 86 minutes to give Chelsea, heavy favorites coming into today’s match, their first lead, but when Florent Malouda put home a left-footed shot from close range, Blues supporters could finally exhale. Chelsea had their 2-1 lead, looked to have preserved their perfect Champions League record, and perhaps most importantly to the teams’ psyche, had something positive to build-in.

More than a spot in the next round, Chelsea’s clinched first place in Group F, meaning them will avoid the stage’s other first place teams when the knock-out stage is drawn. That group is likely to include clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich.

Coming into Tuesday, clinching that spot looked to be easy, going up against Zilina that had amassed one of the poorest Champions League records in recent yeasr. Without a point and with a poor goal difference, the Slovakian champions looked to be fodder for even a half-strength Chelsea. But just as everything of late has been more difficult than the Blues expected, Zilina made life hard.

Babatounde Bello put the visitors up in the 19th minute, and with Zilina took the match to half up 1-0, Chelsea fans couldn’t help but draw parallels to their weekend frustrations with Birmingham. Thankfully for them, Daniel Sturridge put home a Salomon Kalou cross in the 51st minute, and while a draw would have still won Chelsea the group, Florent Malouda’s winner affords club and fans alike a chance to exhale and chalk this up as an agonizing but fruitful day.

Chelsea can now shift focus to a weekend match in newcastle knowing their final group stage match against Marseille is meaningless. Marseille has also secured their spot in group, three points ahead of Spartak Moscow for second, hold the tiebreaker advantage. When the teams meet at Stamford Bridge, the only things that will count are injuries and cards.