Chelsea Find Themselves in Uncharted Waters
There is no doubt that Chelsea’s quest to lift the Champions League trophy they won back in 2021 and 2012 has started on a bad note, as they are yet to secure their first victory in the group stage this season.
The Blues parted ways with Thomas Tuchel after they lost their Champion’s League opener against Dynamo Zagreb of Croatia and appointed Graham Potter as their new manager from Brighton and Hove Albion who fans are expecting to turn things around as soon as possible.
Chelsea currently remains rooted at the bottom of Group E after their 1-1 draw against FC Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday night, a match which was Potter’s first-ever Champions League game.
After a scoreless first half, the Blues kicked off the second half on a high with a goal from Raheem Sterling in the 48th minute before Noah Okafor equalized for the Austrian champions late in the 75th minute to end the match 1-1.
Chelsea fans will now be in shivers when they realize, Potter’s men have to face the Champions of Italy AC Milan twice in the group stages, a side that thumped Dinamo Zagreb 3-1 last night to top the group with 4 points having drawn 1-1 with Salzburg in their group E opener.
Will the blues find it easy to make it out of this group?
Manchester City Leave It Late
Haaland’s impressive form at City has continued, scoring a late winner last night against his former club Borussia Dortmund in Manchester City’s 2-1 victory.
Jude Bellingham scored for Dortmund in the 56th minute to put the German side in the lead before John Stones equalized in the 80th minutes with Halaad scoring the winner 6 minutes before the end of the match.
The Norwegian striker scored his third goal of the season in the Champions League to join Kylian Mbappe and Robert Lewandoski as a joint top score; it was also the 22-year-old’s 26th Champions League goal having scored 8 goals for Red Bull Salzburg and 15 for Dortmund.
Real Madrid Remain Flawless in the Champions League
With Karim Benzema currently on the side lines due to a hamstring injury and Casemiro leaving a void in the midfield after joining Manchester United in the summer window, it’s evident that Carlo Ancelotti has had to adjust his technical approach to suit the players he currently has at his disposal.
After Red Bull Leipzig lost at home against Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk in their Group F opener, new Gaffer Marco Rose may have had the desire of pulling a rabbit out of a hut but perhaps it was going to take more than a miracle against a Real Madrid side that has made the Champions League their trophy.
Real Madrid got their opening goal through Valverde in the 80th minute, while substitute Marcos Alonso who is in the last year of his contract scored the second in added time as the game ended Madrid 2 Leipzig 0.
The victory meant that Ancelotti equals Luis Molowny as the coach with the fifth highest number of matches in Real Madrid history having been in-charge of the Los Blancos with 183 victories.
