Chelsea beat AC Milan for the second time to top Group E of the Champions League with a 2-0 victory at San Siro on Tuesday, a match the hosts had to play most of the time with ten men.
In an attempt to build on last week’s 3-0 win over the Italian team, Chelsea’s task at Milan’s famous stadium became easier after defender Fikayo Tomori was sent off against his former team, and Milan conceded a penalty kick in the 17th minute.
Jorginho scored from the penalty spot after Milan’s protests subsided before striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang doubled Chelsea’s lead in the 34th minute.
Despite the numerical shortage, several important opportunities were missed for Milan in the second half, as full-back Sergino Dest missed the most dangerous of them with a shot that passed over the goal from a good position.
But Chelsea remained far from facing any trouble in most of the periods, as the win raised its score to seven points from four games, one point ahead of Salzburg and three points over AC Milan and Dinamo Zagreb.
“Coming here and winning is not easy. Thanks to the players. They were really special,” Chelsea coach Graham Potter told BT Sport.
“We had some luck as the opponent went down to 10. It was good to take the penalty and it was good for Jorginho to score.
“It was a good step to go ahead. What you saw happened. Sometimes the opponent serves you. It was a good performance in general.”
Qualifying for the knockout stages looked like a difficult task for Chelsea after a surprise defeat in the opening group game against Dinamo Zagreb, followed by a disappointing draw with Salzburg.
But the win over AC Milan, seven-times European Cup champions and Italian Serie A champions, last week put Chelsea back on the right track and made things much better ahead of the second leg in Italy.
However, England international Tomori’s error against Mason Mount effectively ended the match in Chelsea’s favour.
Tomori, who joined Milan from Chelsea in 2021, did not believe the referee showed him a direct red card but the decision remained pending until the VAR review, making the 24-year-old the first English player to be sent off in the Champions League against an English opponent.
“The penalty kick and the red card changed everything,” Milan coach Stefano Pioli told Mediaset.
Chelsea didn’t need to play with numerical superiority.
“I don’t want to take back what happened. It seems very clear. I don’t want to comment. I told the referee what I thought, I don’t speak English very well but I think he understood.”
Jorginho scored the penalty with confidence, and the second goal was an embodiment of the quality of the performance with a strong participation from Mount, who prepared the ball for Aubameyang to continue his wonderful scoring career after joining Chelsea from Barcelona last month.
Substitute Conor Gallagher could have added a third goal early in the second half, before he missed another opportunity later in the same half, but that was not very important after Chelsea controlled the match easily.
New coach Potter has scored four wins in five matches in all competitions since taking over from Thomas Tuchel last month.
Dinamo tied with Salzburg 1-1 in the second match of the same group, which was held in Zagreb on Tuesday.
Nicholas Seifald opened the scoring for Salzburg in the 12th minute, before Robert Ljubicic equalized for Dinamo in the 40th minute.
AFP