Chelsea made a big change to their controversial pre-match huddle ahead of the Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
In a major twist to the scenes last Saturday where they trapped Premier League referee Paul Tierney before they kicked-off against Newcastle, Cole Palmer and co gathered just inside PSG's half.
There was also no surrounding of the ball or the referee before the teams swapped ends of the pitch. Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior had claimed the ritual was partly down to the player 'respecting the ball.' Rosenior said after the 1-0 home defeat against Newcastle: "My players made the decision that they wanted to be around the ball, to respect the ball and show unity and leadership.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia takes the ball off Mamadou Sarr to score PSG's first goal
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia takes the ball off Mamadou Sarr to score PSG's first goal (Image: ANDY RAIN/EPA/Shutterstock)
"That is not my decision. That was a decision between the leadership group and the team. There is nothing that they're doing with that huddle that is disrespectful to the opposition."
Well, their decision to not pay any respect to the Champions League ball soon backfired as their hopes of turning round a 5-2 first leg deficit were ripped to shreds by the reigning champs.
Mamadou Sarr got himself into a muddle rather than a huddle as he failed to control the ball after six minutes to gift Khvicha Kvaratskhelia the opening goal for the French outfit.
Bradley Barcola of Paris Saint-Germain scores his sides second goal
Bradley Barcola scores Paris Saint-Germain's second goal (Image: Shutterstock)
Worse was to follow when Bradley Barcola hit the top corner with a stunning 20-yard strike to make it 7-2 on aggregate.
So less than 15 minutes after their motivational huddle, Rosenior and his Chelsea side were facing a round of 16 exit and were booed off at half time by their own fans at Stamford Bridge.
Liam Rosenior the Chelsea manager on the sidelines
Chelsea v Paris Saint Germain, Football, UEFA Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg
Liam Rosenior has been criticised for Chelsea's centre-circle huddle (Image: Matt Impey/Shutterstock)
It was not long before rivals fans ripped into Chelsea's latest post-huddle disaster, advising Rosenior to get his players to perform the huddle during the game to try and stop PSG scoring any more goals.
One posted: "If I was Chelsea, I'd do the huddle on my own goal line for the rest of the match, it might limit the damage PSG are doing to them...."