Up until that evening, Graham Potter had never watched a Champions League game live. Not as a coach anyway; that’s also rare when you’re coaching clubs like Swansea or Östersund or Brighton. On Wednesday, however, he made his debut as a Chelsea coach – and that in the Champions League. It was ordered on the day the United Kingdom lost its seemingly eternal queen.
Potter – and one always tries to avoid any name games with Harry – had a few days to inoculate his team with his “magic”, his “Potterball”. It seemed crowned with success for a long time. Chelsea did what you would expect from a team of this caliber in the duel against the Austrian champions on paper: it put pressure on. And how. And yet it was ultimately Salzburg who enchanted once again: (almost) without a chance, almost crushed by London’s fast-paced football – and ultimately even the big winner of the evening with a 1-1 draw. Because Noah Okafor, who had already scored against Milan in the opener, also scored at Stanford Bridge out of the blue and thus equalized the “Blues” lead by Raheem Sterling (48th) – in the 75th minute. So it was a heroic point in an incredible defensive battle for Salzburg, who remain in Group E ahead of Chelsea.
In and of itself, chasing the ball is the Salzburg style. To harass the opponent, to drive him into mistakes. Seen in this way, Salzburg’s guest appearance at Chelsea was unusual. For Salzburg did not hunt; it locked itself in, out of necessity. Tried to withstand the pressure from the Londoners, even after another failure – striker Fernando was injured in the warm-up and Benjamim Sesko started for him. And the pressure was great. Chelsea, whose new owners replaced Tuchel with Potter 100 days after the takeover, wanted to show they are better than they seemed after the Zagreb defeat.
They let the ball run and avoided the Salzburg pressing. Attack after attack rolled towards the Salzburg goal. However, it wasn’t really that dangerous. Mount missed the goal by centimeters with a shot (40th), but Sesko goalie Kepa also checked on the other side (41st). Even after the change, little changed – apart from the goal by Sterling, who took a “slipped” cross into the Salzburg penalty area and converted it. But Salzburg answered through Okafor – and after the game it was almost as quiet in the arena as during the Queen’s moment of mourning. “It was a difficult game, but in the end it was a good team effort. We fought ad infinitum. It paid off and I’m happy that I was able to help the team with my goal. We’ll take the point and continue to step on the gas,” summed up the Salzburg goal scorer.