Chelsea 2 - 2 Juventus - Quagliarella Scores a late Equaliser after Poor Defending from Chelsea

Unlike their Champions League campaign last year, poor defending cost Chelsea after Juventus come back from two goals down in their opening matches of the Champions League. Both sides set out in their expected systems, Carerra of Juventus using the 3-5-2 which brought them great success last season as they went unbeaten to win the Scudetto. Di Matteo lined up his Chelsea team in his favoured 4-2-3-1 system, one surprise was that he let new signing Oscar to start, which ultimately payed off as he scored both goals for the European Champions.

NOTE: Luiz played ahead of Cahill

FIRST HALF

 

Juve Pass Well in Defence, but Fail to Advance

Typically of an Italian side, Juventus looked to pass the ball out of defence. Their job was made a lot easier considering it was a 3 v 1 at the back, meaning no matter how heavily Torres pressed, there was always a man available for a pass in the famous black and white kit of Juve. To stop them progressing higher up the pitch however, Di Matteo's men marked the Juventus midfielders well, most notably (as you'd expect) with Pirlo, who found it difficult to get away from young prospect Oscar. However, this tactical move had some negative effects, since the centre-backs had too much time on the ball, which nearly cost the champions when Barzagli lofted a through ball over the Chelsea defence to put Vucinic in, who went on to waste the chance as he shot straight at Cech.

 

Oscar finds Space Behind Pirlo

Despite the young Brazilian doing well in marking the Italian playmaker, the same cannot be said for Pirlo to Oscar. The Juventus midfielder recklessly pressed Lampard and Mikel, who were both sat rather deep. The consequences of this were great, as the Italian often found himself the higher of the 3 Juve midfielders, giving Oscar a lot of space to work with, space he didn't waste as the attacking midfielder scored a brace from outside the box to put Chelsea 2 - 0 up.

Pure Class from the Brazilian for his second goal

 

Chelsea Attack Juventus Flanks

As with most 3 at the back formations, Juventus often found themselves outnumbered on the flanks as Lichtsteiner and Asamoah were both up against two Chelsea wide men. The effect of this was more evident on Juve's right, where Lichtsteiner found it difficult against Hazard and Cole. To counter this, Vidal often had to support them and make up for the numerical disadvantage. This gave Oscar even more space to work with, however Chelsea didn't look as threatening as much as they had the potential to be.

SECOND HALF

 

Chelsea get more Men back, which Allows Juventus Midfielders to Venture Forward

In the second half, Di Matteo's men sat back considerably more, and looked to hold out on the 2-1 lead they had. Their 4-2-3-1 which the London club started with therefore changed to more of a 4-5-1, especially after Bertrand came on for Ramires. This left Torres isolated at times, as he was usually the only man ahead of the ball for Chelsea. Without much threat to their defence, Carrera sent both Vidal and Marchisio forward, this move eventually resulted in an equaliser assisted by the latter, therefore maybe Di Matteo's tactical decision may not have been the best of options.

 

Quagliarella Scores Equaliser After Coming On for Giovinco

Juventus' equaliser was primarily down to poor play from the home side. For the first time Chelsea failed to mark the Old Lady's midfield trio, Juve scored as Marchisio slotted a through ball to meet Quagliarella's well timed run. There were many flaws in the Chelsea defence, they failed to pick up Marchisio, who had been a threat throughout the second half, which made it easy for centre-back Chiellini to place a pass to the box to box midfielder.

Vucinic then repeated the movement he had been making all match, as he dropped into midfield with a decoy run. Luiz followed the Juventus striker which left a gaping hole in the Chelsea defence which Quagliarella took advantage of to pick up the ball and slot it between the legs of Cech.




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