Giroud’s bicycle kick secures Chelsea win versus Atletico, as Bayern maul Lazio 4-1
Olivier Giroud’s bicycle kick gave Chelsea a 1-0 victory away against Atletico Madrid in Tuesday’s first leg match of the UEFA Champions League knockout stage.
The fifth placed English Premier League side beat the Spanish La Liga leaders in the match played in Bucharest, Romania following stringent COVID-19 restrictions in Spain.
The Chelsea – Atletico Madrid match ended goalless in the first stanza with Atletico registering just a shot on target in a half that was massively dominated by the Blues.
Diego Simeone, Atletico Madrid’s coach, opted for a much defensive tactic as the back line was occasionally filled up with 5-6 players and striker Luis Suarez isolated upfront.
Chelsea’s Azpilicueta and Christensen however silenced the Uruguayan striker for most part of the match. Suarez currently tops the goal scoring chart in La Liga with 17 goals.
Giroud’s goal against Atletico is his Sixth goal in five appearances in the UCL this season. The Frenchman have also now scored 18 European goals for the Blues making him the third highest after Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard.
The duo of Jorginho and Mason Mount will miss the second leg of the fixture having collected three yellow cards successively in the competition.
Chelsea will now approach the second leg of the fixture at Stamford Bridge with the away goal advantage and an aggregate of 1-0.
Thomas Tuchel will be much more boosted with this victory coming as his major litmus test since signing as the club’s manager last month. Tuchel is currently on an unbeaten run in eight games across all competitions after the sack of the club’s legend. Frank Lampard.
In the other Champions League match on Tuesday, defending champion Bayern Munich mauled Italian team SS Lazio 4-1 in the first leg of the knockout stages .
The goals came from FIFA Men’s Player of the Year, Robert Lewandoski, Leroy Sane , 17-year-old Jamal Musiala and an own goal from Acerbi while Lazio replied with just a goal from Andrea Correa.
The German giants have now scored a record 55 goals in their last 18 UCL games . English youngster Musiala is now the youngest player to score in the UCL for Bayern Munich on his debut.
Allianz Arena will now host Lazio in two weeks time for the return leg of the fixture. Lazio will be expected to pull up a miracle of at least 4-0 or 5-1 to proceed or get eliminated from the tournament.
More from Peoples Gazette
Anti-Corruption
Senate confirms Bawa as EFCC chair, overlooking records of theft, arrest
In confirming Mr. Bawa, the Senate showed no indication of investigating accusations that Mr. Bawa sold at least 244 oil trucks to cronies at ridiculous prices, leading to his arrest.
World
Transparency International condemns arrest of Georgian opposition leader Melia
The political crisis in the former Soviet country worsened as Georgian police breached the country’s opposition party headquarters.
Agriculture
FG declares Nigeria world’s largest cassava producer
A top agriculture ministry official said that Nigeria was leading in spite of the low yield which is below 10 tonnes per hectare.
Politics
Rivers APC Crisis: Supreme Court to deliver judgement March 5
A lower court had ruled that those who bought forms during the 2018 Congresses but were denied participation rights should be incorporated in any new Congress of the party without them paying for new
States
Ekiti to get uninterrupted power supply soon: Fayemi
“If there is one area that we are unhappy about in terms of our development in the state, it is the availability of electricity. We have been on it from day one.”
World
Facebook: Australia Upper House passes new bargaining code for media
After the amendments were approved, Facebook stopped blocking access to news in Australia.
