Blues’ resilience comes at cost

Atletico Madrid 0-0 Chelsea

Two managers so very alike cancelled each other out, even if that was much more on Jose Mourinho than Diego Simeone.

The Argentinian may still be on course to replicate Mourinho’s great 2004 FC Porto achievement of winning the Champions League with a club outside the 20 wealthiest in Europe, and thereby truly prove himself like the Portuguese, but this tie brought out some of the least appealing qualities in both.

By sitting so far back against a normally counter-attacking team, Chelsea made Atletico Madrid look much less intense — and much less imaginative — than we’ve seen at pretty much any point this season. As a consequence, it became a very cagey game. It said much that the most noteworthy event of the first half was an unfortunate collision, as Petr Cech had to go off after 20 minutes with what turned out to be a dislocated shoulder.

That came from the goalkeeper touching Koke’s in-swinging corner over the bar, which was his first actual ‘save’. Mark Schwarzer wasn’t much more active on replacing Cech, other than watching a long-range Miranda shot whistle past the post.

Atletico were reduced to that because of the amount of players covering the Chelsea box. Yet, while that meant there was a minimum of space around Schwarzer’s goal, there was far too much of it at the other end. For all the focus on on-loan Thibaut Courtois in the build-up, and particularly when Cech went off, it wouldn’t really have mattered who was in goal for Atletico.

Chelsea’s only real attack in open play during the first half was an attempted one-two between Ramires and Fernando Torres right across the length of the Atletico end. Needless to say, the Brazilian failed to reach Torres’s long-range return.

The Spanish striker himself failed to reach pretty much any long ball all night.

There may have been a lot of emotion around Torres’ return home, but he didn’t experience much joy. He did experience pain, particularly when Miranda so abrasively took him out late on. The initial decision to pick Torres in that context felt somewhat curious, even if it was quintessential Mourinho mood management.

Should Torres fail, it merely fits a recent pattern. Should Torres score or play an influential role, the managerial decision looks inspired. This leant much more towards the former.

Chelsea, meanwhile, increasingly leant on their back line. That in itself does raise questions, despite the cast-iron quality of some of the defending. The likes of Diego Costa, after all, got as little sight of goal as Torres.

The wonder, however, is why exactly Mourinho needed to go so deep. Had it been against Bayern Munich, it would have been perfectly understandable given how they dominate possession and territory, but not quite against an Atletico team who are more generally built to break.

The deeper significance of that, too, is the potential effect on the second leg — and whether it will allow Simeone’s side to play exactly the way they want when an away goal will mean so much more.

Because, for all the old-fashioned valour in an away 0-0, it may not have that much value. It now means Chelsea have to go and win the game to go through in normal time, will require more attacking, and potentially offer the space on the break that Atletico could thrive in.

Mourinho’s side may also have to try and hold steady without their first-choice goalkeeper and their captain, after John Terry was taken off injured in the 72nd minute.

It didn’t make too much difference on the night, as Gabi had a long-range free-kick turned away by the sharp Schwarzer and Costa could only head one cross over the bar.

The Chelsea defence did look like it might break in the moments after Terry went off, when the 18-yard box finally opened up a bit for Atletico, only for David Luiz to throw himself into a challenge.

Chelsea, however, are going to have to throw themselves further forward in the return at Stamford Bridge.

The actual value of this result will only be revealed then.

For now, it wasn’t just a 0-0. It was a match in which almost everything of spark was nullified.

Subs for Atletico Madrid: Turan for Diego 60, Sosa for Suarez 77, Villa for Raul Garcia 86.

Subs for Chelsea: Schwarzer for Cech 20, Schurrle for Terry 71.