Despite Chelsea being very strongly marked as the underdogs for the tie, the away side showed some quality football against the Ligue 1 holders Paris Saint-Germain on the first half of the game.
Chelsea let the home side gather their attacking force on their half for the first 20 minutes but after gaining a huge confidence boost from Diego Costa’s header that hit the bar following Trapp’s brilliant save, the game was finally on.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic got his first ever goal against the Blues after Mikel causing the free-kick which was well struck in by the Swedish international on the 39th minute.
Chelsea didn’t give up and with the last kick of the half, Mikel got on the end of Willian’s corner and powerfully struck in the equalizer from close-range to make it one-all on the half.
The game resumed right from where it began, as Chelsea and PSG both going hard for the goal.
The 25-year-old PSG keeper Trapp was to be thanked for not letting Chelsea come on top, as the German was influential to save Diego Costa’s breakaway from Willian’s smart through ball after 50Â minutes of play.
Despite the away side coming close, the Parisians began mounting on Chelsea’s goal building a huge pressure on the white-shirts and making Courtois work.
Chelsea seemed to tire and Laurent Blanc’s side made their everything to get an advantage of that, as PSG were completely dominant for the majority of the half.
Baba Rahman was doing some brilliant job on his position, while Azpilicueta’s side was constantly leaking, with players such as Di Maria and Verratti breaking through the defense time after time.
Chelsea did their best to produce any danger through Hazard, Costa and Willian on the counter-attacks, but came short with their few of attempts.
With only 12 minutes into the game, the Uruguayan substitute Edinson Cavani becomes the hero of the match after Di Maria’s chipped through ball for the forward is well placed into the net between the legs of diving Courtois.
The Blues didn’t have much to play for on the second half as the home side were completely in control of the exhausted Chelsea side, and put the game to bed for a firm 2-1 win on the first leg of the round-of-16 fixture.
Despite the loss, which was the first one for Guus Hiddink to suffer on his new Chelsea era, the performance was bright and with the away goal on our side there’s still everything to be played for on the second leg of the tie in March.
Goals:
Ibrahimovic 39′ Cavani 78′; Mikel 45’+1
Bookings:
Ibrahimovic 19′, Lucas 70′, David Luiz 70′; Mikel 38′, Pedro 67′
Chelsea substitutions:
71′ Oscar on for Hazard
PSG substitutions:
74′ Cavani on for Lucas
81′ Rabiot on for Verratti
81′ Pastore on for Matuidi
