Valencia needed a last-minute goal to draw Chelsea at home in their first UEFA Champions League meeting. They've won all of the games they were supposed to win in Champions League and La Liga, but have lost at home to Real Madrid, away to Sevilla and away to Bayer Leverkusen. Their best result of the season was a home draw against Barcelona. Valencia can pull an upset at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, but their form suggests that this might be a bit too tough of a task.
Chelsea Vs. Valencia, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Los Che’s Attitude Makes Them Hard To Beat
In that loss to Real Madrid, Valencia went down by multiple goals and fought back, eventually losing 3-2 to Los Merengues in a thrilling match. Chelsea FC blog We Ain't Got No History likes their chances of advancing to the knockout stages of the Champions League, but is only cautiously optimistic. They point this out while describing Valencia's fight-back against Real Madrid.
Valencia came back twice to narrow down the lead to one and almost equalized in the dying minutes of the game. It is partly due to the tactical change by Emery but it is also the result of the never-say-die attitude that Valencia has. And their on form striker Soldado personified that attitude in that game. He was always in the move to initiate an attack. He was always chasing loose balls. He was always looking to run in behind the Madrid defense. It paid off for him because he scored both of Valencia’s goal in that game. This game should be a good warning sign to Chelsea -- even a solid two-goal lead will not be secure against Los Che. Even if we were fortunate enough to take that kind of lead, we must not lose concentration or we will be punished.
No matter what happens, Valencia’s attitude and spirit should at least make this game fun.
Check out Chelsea FC blog We Ain’t Got No History for more on the Blues. We’ll have coverage of all of the UEFA Champions League matches at SB Nation Soccer. For more from around the world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.
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