Reflections on Chelsea's 1-0 Loss to Steaua Bucharest

After crashing out of the Champions League at the group stage before Christmas, Chelsea are in grave danger of being eliminated from UEFA’s secondary competition following a limp 1-0 defeat in Bucharest.

The Blues’ main aim this season, we are told, is to secure a top-four slot in the Premier League, and the team’s lacklustre performance in the Romanian capital certainly suggested that challenging for the Europa League does not rank anywhere near as high in their list of priorities.

From a Chelsea perspective, there were few, if any, positives to be taken from a pretty dismal match. Oh, here’s one: The Blues only lost by one goal and have an excellent record in overturning deficits from away legs in European games.

In fact, on the last four occasions that Chelsea have returned to Stamford Bridge in arrears, they have still managed to progress every time except once—that one blip coming in 2010 when the Blues were knocked out of the Champions League in the last 16 by Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan.

So, history would suggest that this tie against Steaua is far from over.

Now read on for more thoughts on the game…

1. Rafa's Rotation

Rafa Benitez’s team selection showed five changes from the Chelsea side which started against West Brom on Saturday, which was hardly a surprise given the Blues’ intense schedule of matches in recent weeks.

You get the impression that Benitez could have fielded a back four made up of chairman Bruce Buck, matchday team announcer Neil Barnett, petite physio Eva Carneiro and mascot Stamford the Lion and still got a nod of approval from Roman Abramovich. After all, as club chief executive Ron Gourlay made clear this week, it’s next season’s Champions League rather than this term’s Europa League which is uppermost in Chelsea minds.

Nonetheless, it was still a strong-looking Blues team which started the game in Bucharest, which made the turgid fare that the players served up all the more disappointing. 

2. Laser Pen Madness

On the extremely rare occasions that Chelsea ventured anywhere near the Steaua penalty area in the first half, the Blues players were targeted by a moronic home fan with a green laser pen. That was a shame, because otherwise the Steaua supporters created a fantastic atmosphere inside the National Arena.

It got me thinking, though: What, precisely, is the purpose of such pens? Yes, I know that makes me sound a bit like an out-of-touch high court judge, but, honestly, I’m at a loss to understand what they are intended for. After all, the only time you hear about laser pens is when one is shone in the face of a footballer or, even worse, an airline pilot, by some dunderhead with the IQ of an amoeba.

In the days of the unlamented Nicolae Ceausescu, the laser pen-wielding idiot would, one imagines, have received short shrift from the Securitate, the Romanian dictator’s brutal secret police force. Let’s hope that, even in these more enlightened times, he or she didn’t get away scot-free.

OK, rant over!   

3. Another Terrible Night for Torres

You’d have thought that Fernando Torres would look forward to Europa League nights, as it’s the one competition he is sure of starting in thanks to Demba Ba’s unavailability.

Yet, the Spaniard put in one of his now customary sloth-like performances, lacking in energy and full of poor touches and misplaced passes. He did have one promising run early in the first half, skipping past a defender with ease before getting the ball caught under his feet, where it ping-ponged between his legs and then dribbled out of play for a goal kick.

That single, vaguely comical incident rather summed up Torres’ night. In fact, you could say it summed up his whole season…and even his whole Chelsea career to date.

4. The Europa League Is Worth Winning

Chelsea’s board may not be that bothered about the Europa League, but the team owe it to the 600 or so fans who travelled out to Bucharest to put in a much better performance against Steaua in the return leg at the Bridge next week.

As for the competition as a whole, think on this: If Chelsea win the Europa they will make history as the first British club to lift three different UEFA trophies (four, in fact, if you count the Super Cup).

Surely that has to be a worthwhile aim?

Then there’s the question of Tottenham. The way they’re playing, it’s going to take some team to stop them winning the trophy. That looks highly unlikely to be Inter Milan, who were comprehensively stuffed at White Hart Lane last night, so it might fall to Chelsea to deliver the fatal blow.

Winning some historic silverware for themselves and dashing Spurs’ dreams in the process—the much-derided Europa League could yet provide the season’s perfect “double whammy!”