Raboit broke up play in the Chelsea half to play in Ibrahimovic, although the latter’s normally impeccable touch was not up to standard and Courtois narrowed the angle well.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck the victor as a clinical Paris St Germain team outclassed Chelsea 2-1 to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.
“Chelsea is now in a transition period.to regain the loss terrain where Chelsea used to be”, Hiddink said.
While Zenit keeper Lodygin’s spectacular one-handed stop of Jimenez’s shot backfired when the ball came back off the bar, he had pulled off a similar save in the 72nd with an acrobatic, one-handed dive to stop a looping header from Victor Lindelof that was destined for the top corner.
PSG, who won the first leg of the last-16 tie 2-1 in Paris, made the last eight for the fourth successive season 4-2 on aggregate after dominating a compelling match at Stamford Bridge. We were losing games, the team wasn’t clicking on the pitch.
Winning the European Cup was the club’s final chance of playing in it again next term as they are a lowly 10th place in the Premier League.
Chelsea have gone on a 13-game unbeaten run in the Premier League under Hiddink, but their chances of chasing down fourth-placed Manchester City, who are 10 points ahead with a game in hand remain remote.
“We controlled the game, we had a lot of patience in our game and we played with possession like we like to play”, he said. I’m not saying I’m unaware. “We were preparing for a tough match and we were right to do so”, Blanc said.
Interim boss Guus Hiddink also revealed that striker Diego Costa, who was replaced by Bertrand Traore on 60 minutes, was not 100 per cent fit for Wednesday’s last-16, second leg clash. Yeah, it should not be done, but in some countries it’s usual you do it, and not after the game.
“We were on the edge around 65th minute to score”. A misplaced pass from Di Maria missed Matuidi and seemed to result in a breakdown of attacking move and it found Motta.
He added: “Angel di Maria gave Chelsea a problem from start to finish”.
“We knew at that moment we had to score three goals with just over 20 minutes to go and that is nearly impossible”.
In that time, Hazard had two good seasons, one remarkable, and one disastrous. “Zlatan played a match in keeping with what he’s done this season”, the former France defender told reporters in his post-match press conference. “He’s proving already many, many years what kind of player he is”, said the Dutchman, who lost goal-scorer Diego Costa and Eden Hazard to injury in the second half.
The 25-year-old has scored 51 goals 197 appearances for the west London club.
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“We will get the benefit of that, me as coach, the players and the club”.
