Thursday, 19 September 2013

Champions League - Basel hand Chelsea shock defeat at Stamford Bridge - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Chelsea suffered a shock defeat in the first Champions League game of Jose Mourinho's second spell with the club, after Basel came from behind to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge.

The defeat was Chelsea's second in a row, after they were beaten 1-0 by Everton at the weekend, and their first at home in the group stages of the Champions League in nearly 10 years.

Oscar gave Chelsea the lead on the brink of half time, after David Luiz carried the ball out of defence and fed Frank Lampard, who slid a pass into the box for Oscar, and the Brazilian shot powerfully across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Mourinho's men were largely the better side, but failed to make their relative dominance pay in the second half, and were punished.

Against the run of play, Mohamad Salah levelled things in the 71st minute. An innocuous ball was laid off on the edge of the box by Marco Streller, and Salah cut in from the right to power into the corner with his left foot.

And then Basel sealed a shock win 10 minutes later, after Streller lost his marker Gary Cahill at a corner, and his header eluded Petr Cech at the near post.

KEY MOMENTS

PRE-MATCH: Willian makes his debut for Chelsea, with Samuel Eto'o starting up front and Marco van Ginkel in midfield. Fernando Torres and Andre Schurrle don't even make the bench.

45' - GOAL! Oscar! Luiz breaks forward and finds Lampard, who slides a pass into the area to Oscar, who fires hard and low across Sommer to give Chelsea the lead. If anyone was going to break the deadlock, it was the Brazilian.

71' - GOAL! SALAH EQUALISES FOR BASEL! Against the run of play, Salah does what he did in the Europa League last season. An innocuous ball is laid off on the edge of the box by Streller, and Salah cuts in from the right to power into the corner with his left foot. Great finish.

81' - GOAL! STRELLER PUTS BASEL IN FRONT! Remarkable scenes. Too simple for Basel, as Streller gets in front of Cahill at the near post and heads in a corner.

KEY STATS

Chelsea possession: 57%, Basel: 43%

Basel only had three shots on target in the 90 minutes, scoring with two of them.

This was Chelsea's first Champions League group stage loss at Stamford Bridge in 29 games, a run stretching back 10 years.

TALKING POINT: Are Chelsea suffering for a lack of a striker? Chelsea have scored just five goals this season, and none of them have come from their centre-forwards. Fernando Torres was left out of the squad altogether against Basel, while Samuel Eto'o was quiet again. The sense that they let their best striker, Romelu Lukaku, go out on loan increases.

MATCHCAST: FULL COMMENTARY AND STATS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Oscar (Chelsea): The Brazilian was at the heart of everything good Chelsea did, giving them the lead at the end of the first half. He was pushed out wide after the introduction of Juan Mata, but he still looked to be their most likely source of anything creative and of getting back into the game.

PLAYER RATINGS

Chelsea: Cech 6, Ivanovic 7, Cahill 6, Luiz 6, Cole 6, Van Ginkel 5, Lampard 6, Hazard 6, Oscar 8, Willian 6, Eto'o 6. Subs: Ba 6, Mikel 5, Mata 6.

Basel: Sommer 7, Safari 6, Ivanov 6, Schar 7, Voser 6, Frei 6, Stocker 7, Diaz 7, Salah 8, Sio 6, Streller 7. Subs: Delgado 6, Xhaka N/A.

THE MATCH IN A TWEET

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