Chelsea will host the current European champions, Paris Saint-Germain, at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie. Chelsea need to make up a three-goal deficit. The game will start at 8 p.m. GMT (4 p.m. ET) and will be shown on TNT Sports 2 in the UK and Paramount+ in the US.
The first leg at the Parc des Princes ended in a 5-2 thrashing, with PSG scoring three goals in the last 20 minutes to make the tie very open. Chelsea were able to keep up with PSG for most of the game. Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernández each scored to tie the game after Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé had put the hosts ahead. However, a costly mistake by goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen let Vitinha regain PSG’s lead, and then substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored two amazing late goals.
It will be even harder for Chelsea to win now that captain Reece James is definitely out. He hurt his hamstring during Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Newcastle United. Malo Gusto, another right-back, is also ill and may not be able to play, but Estêvão has resumed training. PSG had a free weekend because their Ligue 1 game was postponed. This gave Luis Enrique’s team more time to rest before heading to London.
The Opta supercomputer says Chelsea have only a 6% chance of reaching the quarter-finals. No team that lost the first leg of the Champions League by three goals or more has qualified in the return leg since the away goals rule was removed. But Stamford Bridge has seen some great European nights before, and the Blues will hope that their Club World Cup pedigree (a 3-0 win over PSG in the final last summer) will help them have another great game.
Prediction: Chelsea will win 2-1, but PSG will move on 6-4. The Blues will fight hard in front of their home fans, but they can’t make up for the loss in Paris against a PSG team that is well-rested and ruthless.
Liam Rosenior’s Comments Ahead of Facing PSG
Liam Rosenior, the head coach of Chelsea, has admitted that the challenge ahead of his team is huge, but he still believes that they can win the tie. At a press conference before the match on Monday, the former Strasbourg coach told his players to play perfectly at Stamford Bridge.
Rosenior also talked about Chelsea’s recent £10.75 million fine and one-year transfer ban for breaking Premier League financial rules. He said that the punishment would not be a distraction for his team.
After Chelsea’s late collapse in Paris, Rosenior said that they need to work on their focus and calmness. He also didn’t blame anyone in particular for the loss in the first leg; instead, he took personal responsibility for finding a way to stop the team’s costly defensive mistakes from happening again.