It wasn't easy, but Chelsea put together a solid performance at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, grabbing a hard earned 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen. The Blues now have control of Group E in the UEFA Champions League, and have already put themselves in pole position to clinch a place in the knockout stages over the next five games.
Chelsea Vs. Bayer Leverkusen, 2011 UEFA Champions League: Full Time, David Luiz, Juan Mata Fire Blues To Win
David Luiz and Juan Mata were the scorers, and both were absolutely brilliant outside of their goals. Luiz continues to grow his reputation as the best attacking defender in the world, while Mata continues to look like an absolutely brilliant buy for Andre Villas-Boas.
The first half ended scoreless, but Chelsea were the slightly better team. Both sides had a goal disallowed in the opening five minutes, and both calls were slightly controversial. However, upon examination of replays it appears that the officials probably got both calls exactly right. The match settled down a bit after that, though Chelsea were in control. Fernando Torres and Florent Malouda both had bad misses in front of goal in the first half, while Daniel Sturridge had an effort brilliantly saved by Bernd Leno.
The 19-year-old Leno, on loan from Stuttgart because of Rene Adler’s injury, was stellar on the night and looks like a real star in the making in goal. Neither of Chelsea’s goals were his fault, and the Blues could have easily had five goals against an average goalkeeper. Leno’s early save against Sturridge and brilliant second half stops against Sturridge again, as well as Mata, were absolutely world class.
Luiz’s goal came in the 66th minute, and it was a brilliant combination move by the Blues. Surging forward from the center of defense, Luiz played a ball down the left for Mata and continued his run into the box. Mata passed to Torres, who laid off a ball for Luiz. The Brazilian international center back hit a great finish to the far post that Leno had no chance to stop.
Nicolas Anelka scored a goal after coming on as a substitute, just before the start of stoppage time, but it was bizarrely disallowed for offside. No Chelsea player appeared to be within two feet of being offside when the flag went up.
Chelsea would seal the deal with a second goal eventually, though, tapped in by Mata on a Torres assist. While Torres was poor for much of the game and is still experiencing a serious scoring drought, his two assists were impressive and might be a sign of life for the Spaniard.
The Blues are now in control in Champions League, but their lives don’t get any easier going forward. They face off against Manchester United this weekend.
For more on Chelsea FC and this match, head over to SB Nation’s Chelsea blog We Ain’t Got No History. Check out our Chelsea vs. Bayer Leverkusen StoryStream for all of the previous updates from earlier in the match. Head over to SB Nation Soccer for news and updates on all of the UEFA Champions League action.
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