EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Chelsea suffered a humbling defeat to Roma in a night where little worked for Chelsea. Deco obtained two yellow cards and was sent off in the 80th minute. He obtained his 2nd after taking a free-kick before the referee had signalled he was ready. The loss is puzzling and unexpected partially because Serie A competitors Roma are struggling to remain out of the relegation zone having only obtained 7 points out of 9 games played. Its even more puzzling because Chelsea had 65% possession; they were completely unable to produce serious efforts on goal however.

Scolari commented on the loss,
“We gave too many opportunities to Roma. We made too many mistakes, made wrong passes and had bad positions. [The] first goal there was not any player covering him [Panucci] when they crossed. After this, we were anxious and gave more opportunities. It’s okay, all of the groups are difficult. We lost one game here and there are other team arriving behind us. If we draw today we are in good condition but we did not play very well and it was impossible to draw or win. We now have two chances to win against Bordeaux and Cluj. We’ll try.”

Liverpool played Atletico Madrid and somehow managed to scour a point in the 1-1 tie. Atletico deserved to win and had victory within view only 2 minutes away when Gerrard jumped high to head a ball for possession. He was in the penalty box but far from goal when he jumped for the ball, Pernia umped late to compete and only managed to bump into Gerrard’s back. Gerrard went down and was awarded a penalty; the call was a bad one which gave Liverpool a goal in the 92nd minute.

Gerrard commented on the penalty and game:

“I think we controlled the game but first half we weren’t good enough. We raised it at half-time and it finally came in injury time. I’m not sure it was a penalty. I got their first and I think if that is outside the area you get a free-kick. If it happened at the other end we would be livid. That’s football. It’s a point and we move on. It is important because we have got a point. Good teams don’t usually lose two in a row and we showed a lot of character.  I think so, watching the replay. I think it was the linesman who has given the penalty but it is better not to talk too much about the referee.”