Despite a sublime goal from Mehdi Taremi on an acrobatic kickback in added time, Chelsea hardly trembled on Tuesday to reach the semi-final of the Champions League against a disappointing Porto.
With their two-goal advantage, the Blues controlled the game, leaving little hope for the Portuguese champion who never really played his game, nor managed to shake up a solid defense.
It must also be said that N'Golo Kanté once again reigned supreme in the midfield, never stopping running and raking an incredible number of balls.
Taremi's incredible goal!
Entering the hour mark, the Iranian striker from Porto, Taremi, will have offered the most beautiful image of this double confrontation by resuming a perfect return in full skylight a cross from the right (1-0, 90th + 4).
It was too little, and especially too late, to prevent Chelsea from entering the last four of the C1 for the first time since 2013-2014.
In the semi-final, Chelsea will find the winner of the quarter between Real Madrid and Liverpool which takes place this Wednesday.
The Spaniards took a good advantage in the first leg (3-1).
Que Golaco de Taremi !!
Mind-blowing!
Give him the goal of the year now!
pic.twitter.com/rcQzjPLEww
- 🇵🇹 𝙁𝘾 𝙋𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙤 𝘼𝙘𝙩𝙪𝙨 𝙁𝙍 🇫🇷 (@fcporto_actus) April 13, 2021
Thomas Tuchel, the former coach of PSG, therefore once again reached the stage of the semi-finals, a few months after the Final 8 in Lisbon.
Speaking at BT Sport, he said: “We agreed to do what we had to do.
It was a very tough fight, maybe not very good to watch on TV, but seen from the sidelines, it was a very intense, very fast match.
It's always very hard to play against them and escape their pressure.
It's a team that attacks very smoothly and very aggressively.
But after a difficult start, we improved minute after minute.
I think we defended very well and we would have deserved not to concede a goal.
The guys hung on and, in the end, we deserved to beat Porto on those difficult 180 minutes.
"
Thiago Silva, the former Parisian captain, holder in central defense, was just as happy.
“Thomas Tuchel is doing an incredible job!
"He said at the microphone of Sky Sport.
