The match was quickly decided as Hviča Kvaratschelia and Bradley Barcola put the French champions ahead 2-0 within the first 15 minutes. Liam Rosenior’s side struggled to find their rhythm, with Chelsea trailing by five points overall. The night took a turn for the worse when Seni Mayur scored for the defending European champions just after the hour mark. Meanwhile, Trevor Chalobah required a stretcher after the Blues used up all available players and finished the game with 10 men. The result continued PSG’s recent trend of sending Premier League opponents in the Champions League knockout stages, having eliminated Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal last season. The French media’s evaluation of Chelsea’s play is as follows.
eurosport
PSG’s victory was described as a “walk in the park” for Luis Enrique’s side, who “consolidated their advantage over Chelsea”. This result was seen as France’s revenge for the “abnormality” of their exit from last summer’s Club World Cup.
Chelsea were “completely defeated” by their rivals and the home side were “completely helpless against a PSG team who gave their all”. Eurosport’s match report described PSG’s performance as “absolutely perfect”.
Eurosport further pointed out that Chelsea’s players “could not find a convincing speech” to spark a turnaround. This scoreline is said to highlight the “bottomless gulf in quality between the two clubs”.
france 24
Although French publications praised PSG’s performance, a match report from France 24 newspaper concluded that “Chelsea looked far from the level required in Europe’s elite club competition”. They conceded three goals in the closing stages to lose the first leg 5-2, but the report suggested that “Liam Rosenior’s side never really believed they could turn things around”.
France 24 praised Kubratsheria for scoring the opening goal after outscoring Chelsea defender Mamadou Sarr. When Barcora doubled PSG’s lead, “the home fans started rushing for the exits”. It was summed up as “a disastrous night for Chelsea”.
L’Equipe
L’Equipe gave a dismal verdict on Chelsea’s play, calling PSG “extinguished the light and hope of their opponents”. The early goal was said to have sent Stamford Bridge back into “silence and resignation”.
The French publication claimed that “there was little point in analyzing the entire match. The match lasted 15 minutes.” But Enrique’s side surprised Chelsea and was hailed as being “absolutely ruthless” from the start.
“PSG calmly defeated their somewhat cocky rivals 6-0,” L’Equipe newspaper said, reflecting on the club’s performance since scoring three late goals in the first leg. The newspaper said of Chelsea that the Blues “really emerged only when it was too late and no longer meant much”.
