Chelsea FC News

The latest Blues News bulletin, which can be viewed above, reports that the team have arrived in New York ahead of the second game against Man City on this post-season trip to the States.

They travelled there soon after the match in St Louis and there will be more news and interviews on that game on Chelsea TV tonight.

After making his debut in the 4-3 friendly defeat against Manchester City in the US, Andreas Christensen thanked his team-mates for their support.

The young Danish defender played the full 90 minutes in a game which we led 3-0, playing alongside Gary Cahill in the first half and David Luiz after the break.

Having never previously featured for the first team, going up against the likes of Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko could be seen as a baptism of fire, but Christensen more than held his own.

‘It was a great experience,’ he tells the official Chelsea website. ‘I was playing against top players and it was a good learning curve.

‘My team-mates gave me a lot of support and helped me a lot because they have so much experience. Gary Cahill’s a good player; he talked me through the game and was helping me a lot.

‘The players have been great with me and made me feel part of the team, which is a big help. It was still tough, and I have a long way to go, but I felt I did okay.’

The 17-year-old wasn’t the only new face on show, with his Academy team-mate Ruben Loftus-Cheek also making his Blues debut.

The young midfielder impressed throughout up until his withdrawal late in the game, and Christensen was pleased to have a familiar face in the starting line-up.

‘Having Ruben making his debut as well helped me as I wasn’t the only one, and he did very well,’ says the Dane.

‘It’s given us a taste of playing against the best players and hopefully if we work hard we will get more opportunities.’

Cesar Azpilicueta was disappointed to be beaten by Manchester City in St Louis on Thursday night, but delighted to score his first goal in Chelsea colours.

The Spaniard, a regular at right-back throughout the final two-thirds of the season, featured for the first half last night on the wing, and, when Juan Mata was fouled inside the area, stepped up to take the penalty, despatching it low into the bottom corner beyond Joe Hart’s dive.

‘We are a bit tired, it’s normal at the end of the season, and after the travel, and this kind of pitch is a bit different, but I was happy with my goal!’ Azpilicueta told Chelsea TV afterwards. ‘We spoke before the game, if we had a penalty maybe I could shoot it and that was the case.

‘Shooting penalties is another thing I’ve never done, I try to improve and in this case Juan gave it to me,’ continued the 23-year-old. ‘Before the game everybody was joking, because I was playing as a right winger, that hopefully I would score my first goal.

‘I’m not used to taking penalties but I practice a lot and I try to improve every part of my game.’

Having led 3-0, we were eventually beaten 4-3 by City, which left a bitter taste after an entertaining encounter, but there will be a chance to get even in New York on Saturday.

‘We expected a different game,’ Azpilicueta said. ‘Everyone wanted to compete and do a good game, but the pace was really high and they created a lot of chances. It was a very open game.

‘We are competitive players and we want every time to win, so even if it’s a friendly game on a tour after the season, everybody wanted to win.

‘After we were winning 3-0 and lost 4-3, it’s a strange feeling, so we look forward to the game on Saturday and we will try to win it.’

Joining Azpilicueta in the line-up for the first time were Academy pair Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Andreas Christensen, who both gave encouraging performances.

‘Ruben and Andreas played a really good game,’ he said. ‘It’s not easy against Manchester City with their players, but I think they were very good. Nathan Ake also had 15 minutes on the pitch, but he is more used to it than them. They have a really great future in front of them.’

Supporters can still purchase the last remaining tickets for Saturday’s game in New York here, while if you’re a fan in the UK or Ireland, you can watch it on Chelsea TV for free!

Summary
An entertaining friendly in the US saw Chelsea surrender a three-goal lead to lose 4-3 to Manchester City.

Having taken the lead through a Demba Ba header early in the game, Cesar Azpilicueta scored his first goal for the club from the penalty spot a minute before the break.

When Oscar made it 3-0 nine minutes after half-time, the game appeared won, but two City goals in quick succession – from Javier Garcia and Edin Dzeko – ensured there was still plenty to play for.

Dzeko scored again late on to draw City level, and in the last minute Micah Richards stole in at the far post to convert a Garcia cross.

Team news
Rafael Benitez was able to name a strong side, while also handing debuts to two of our youngsters. Andreas Christensen partnered Gary Cahill in the centre of defence, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek played alongside John Mikel Obi in midfield. There were also starts for the likes of Petr Cech, who captained the side, Ashley Cole and Juan Mata. Azpilicueta was deployed in a more advanced role on the right-hand side, while Ba started in attack.

Similarly, City named an inexperienced side, with Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez all starting.

First half
Saint Louis had well and truly been engulfed by football fever since the Blues arrived earlier this week, and after more than 10,000 supporters came along to our open training session last night, it was no surprise the locals were in and around the area of Busch Stadium hours before kick-off.

Tickets for the match sold out within 27 minutes of going on sale, and it was Chelsea who were backed by the majority of the 48,000 inside the ground.

In what was a touching gesture, both sets of players unfurled a banner expressing support for the people of Oklahoma following Monday’s tornado, with the fans showing their appreciation. Each player also wore a black armband as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the tragedy.

It was the Blues who had the first sight of goal, Mata blasting over the bar after being teed up by Yossi Benayoun.

Five minutes later Cech was forced into action for the first time, saving well low down to his left from Sergio Aguero.

Aguero should have opened the scoring when he was put clean through by Tevez soon after, but the Argentine was thwarted by the feet of Cech, and it was a miss City were made to pay for in the 15^th minute.

Benayoun picked the ball up deep inside the City half and fed Mata out wide; the Spaniard took one touch before delivering a teasing cross into the penalty area, and as Demba Ba and Hart challenged, it was the Chelsea man who got there first to head home.

Our joy was almost shortlived, however, when Aguero struck the post with a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area which had Cech well beaten.

After a slow start the game was developing into a decent contest, with players on both sides prepared to take risks they perhaps wouldn’t in a more competitive game.

Loftus-Cheek almost made it a debut to savour when he forced Hart into a save with a fizzing long-range effort, but after going behind it was City looking the more threatening.

Just before the half-hour mark Cech pulled off a magnificent save to preserve our lead. David Silva evaded Cole with some neat footwork before sending his cross into the path of Toure. The Ivorian swivelled and shot, and with the ball destined for the bottom corner, Cech somehow clawed it away.

Ba was unfortunate not to double our advantage eight minutes before the break when he tried to catch Hart out with an ambitious lob, but in the 44th minute the City goalkeeper was powerless to prevent us extending our advantage.

Mata smartly got beyond City’s young defender Karim Rekik, and after being pulled down the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Azpilicueta, having never scored a Chelsea goal, was the player entrusted with taking the kick, and he calmly fired into the bottom corner to make it 2-0, sparking jubilant scenes involving his team-mates on the bench.

Second half
Benitez made five changes at the break, with David Luiz, Paulo Ferreira, Ramires, Oscar and Fernando Torres entering the fray, and nine minutes into the second half it was 3-0.

Ramires challenged Rekik inside the City penalty area, and as the loose ball ran into the path of Oscar, the Brazilian showed great feet to round Richard Wright – a replacement for Hart at the break – and roll the ball into an empty net.

Shortly after the hour mark the Blues made two more substitutions, with Marko Marin and Jamal Blackman introduced to the action.

Blackman was making his debut, but unfortunately his first task was to pick the ball out of his net after Javier Garcia had prodded home from close-range.

Worse was to come three minutes later when City reduced the deficit further, as substitutes James Milner and Edin Dzeko combined, and the Bosnian steered his strike beyond the advancing Blackman.

With Cech departing the action, the armband was handed to Ferreira, but of more pressing concern was City’s growing threat.

Blackman did well to deny Milner with his feet at the far post, and we had the young goalkeeper to thank once again when he made a smart stop from a powerful Dzeko strike.

Having made seven substitutions, it was virtually a new-look Chelsea in the second half. Oscar was now playing tucked in behind Torres with Ramires wide on the right and Marin operating down the left.

Loftus-Cheek was withdrawn with 10 minutes left to play, and the young midfielder will have been happy with his display, impressing with a composed, mature performance in the heart of midfield.

With five minutes remaining, and with the Blues seemingly heading for victory, City equalised.

Mikel’s clearance was charged down, and the ball fell into the path of Tevez. The Argentine spotted the run of Dzeko to his right, slid it into his path and the substitute fired across Blackman into the bottom corner.

In truth, it was a goal that had been coming, but Benitez will have been disappointed in the manner his side allowed a three-goal lead to slip.

What had been a disappointing second half display was compounded in the 90^th minute when Richards arrived in our penalty area to volley home Garcia’s cross from the left.

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech (c) (Blackman 61); Ivanovic (Ferreira h/t), Christensen, Cahill (David Luiz h/t), Cole; Mikel Obi, Loftus-Cheek (Ake 80); Azpilicueta (Ramires ht), Mata (Oscar h/t), Benayoun (Marin 61); Ba (Torres h/t).
Scorers Ba 15, Azpilicueta (pen) 44, Oscar 54

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Hart; Zabaleta (Maicon 55), Kompany (c) (Richards h/t), Rekik, Clichy; Garcia, Toure (Huws h/t); Rusnak (Milner 55), Silva (Nasri h/t), Aguero (Dzeko h/t); Tevez.
Scorers Garcia 61, Dzeko 64 and 85, Richards 90

Crowd 48,263

It is to be a German clean sweep in the Champions League this season with, on a notable night in the history of Stamford Bridge, VfL Wolfsburg won the women’s version of the competition.

Olympique Lyonnais were the defeated side, a second-half penalty the only goal in the final, meaning a new name is inscribed on the UEFA Women’s Champions League trophy.

There was a true sense of occasion throughout the evening at the Bridge, the West Stand lower tier looking the most different from norm, with a presentation platform built in the middle of it, a large competition banner located behind that and the two most vocal sets of supporters for the teams on either side. Above in the middle tier sat UEFA and FIFA presidents Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter side by side, the former heading downstairs at the end to hand over the silverware.

The lower tiers around the ground were filled by the 19,278 crowd with the Chelsea Ladies team and staff also in attendance, and there was particular interest in the Lyon side for Chelsea Ladies manager Emma Hayes who coached two of their players when working in the United States – their experienced captain Sonia Bompastor and winger Megan Rapinoe. Hayes herself is a past winner of this final as a player, with Arsenal six years ago.

That was the last time a team not from tonight’s two competing nations had won the competition. Lyon were going for a third straight win which would have made history. Germany had a good record of participation in these finals but this was Wolfsburg’s first. Their coach had described his opponents, the clear financial power in the women’s game in France until Paris St-Germain’s recent takeover, as probably the best women’s team in the world. His opposite number in the Lyon dugout said before the match that Wolfsburg were all about outstanding team work. On the night it was the Germans who came closer to fulfilling their billing.

This being a European final, the Stamford Bridge turf hosted an opening ceremony with a giant purple star and the colours of both sides unfurled before an anthem was played, and it was underdogs Wolfsburg who shot only inches wide inside the first five minutes.

Although Lyon were next to go close, they could not have been happy with their opening to the game. The side that had won every match on the way to their domestic championship adopted an almost shoot-on-sight policy and it was not paying off.

It was only after a clearance off the line from Rapinoe’s header midway through the half that they really started to play. Attempts went close and Alisa Vetterlin in the Wolfsburg goal was tested as a Mexican wave and the rain began.

However Wolfsburg midfielder Martine Muller nearly made the most of hesitancy in the Lyon defence shortly before half-time. Her moment would come.

In the second-half, the pace of Elodie Thomis on the flank for Lyon threatened to make the difference but in the end the match turned on a 72^nd-minute handball, as a flick off an aerial dual dropped onto centre-back Laura Georges’s arm.

Muller hit the penalty home high. Lyon coach Patrice Lair did not complain about the decision after the game, instead talking about his team not doing what was needed.

Lyon now hurried forward but Wolfsburg went as close to scoring as the French did. Deep into stoppage time, Louisa Necib for Lyon had a shot saved at the second grasp to plenty of quiet celebration and relief in and around the German dug out. They were soon climbing up the aisle in the West Stand to receive their medals from Platini, adding to a domestic double won in the previous fortnight, their first major trophies.

Nearly nine months to the day after the first match of the season at Stamford Bridge, the final competitive game on our turf was over.

‘I love these English stadiums and the atmosphere was fantastic,’ said player of the match Lena Goessling after receiving her individual award.