Chelsea's Porto Victory Showcases Their Champions League Credentials
STAMFORD BRIDGE, London — If ever there was a club that understood domestic and Champions League success don’t always go hand in hand, it’s Chelsea.
It was with one of the weakest squads of the Roman Abramovich era that the Blues won Europe’s premier competition in 2012 when their struggles at home saw them lose a manager and a whole lot more.
But defy the odds and expectations by lifting the Champions League trophy they did. Now that Chelsea have qualified for the last 16 of this season’s competition, there’s a hint Jose Mourinho is taking the club back on that same rollercoaster.
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A pattern is emerging: struggling in the Premier League, Chelsea are progressing in Europe.
As unconvincing as the Blues have been this season, they resembled something more like their brilliant best against Porto on Wednesday evening.
They were dominant, rampant at times and in Europe at least, are now riding a wave that many hope will take them all the way to Milan for May’s final.
Of course, there are plenty more obstacles that stand in the way. Indeed, there will be more difficult opponents to face than a dismal Porto side that offered little at Stamford Bridge.
You wouldn’t have known the Portuguese champions were fighting to stay in the Champions League. They were limp at best, lacking any real threat to suggest they could pull off an upset.
Everything was on the line and they choked.
Chelsea were the opposite, rising to the occasion to put in one of their best displays of what has been a frustrating campaign.
It’s been on the continent that we’ve seen the best from Mourinho’s men this term, which is why the manager should be feeling bullish as he contemplates what spring time will bring.
From here on out, it’s cup football. The mini leagues are over and winners will be decided by the simplest of equations: who scores the most.
It doesn’t matter how a team does it, it’s simply the doing it that carries the weight of importance. Parking buses into position, rip-roaring attacking displays—whichever formula wins matches isn’t important. Just win.
When football comes down to such simplicities, there are few better coaches than Mourinho at achieving the unexpected.
He did it with an unfancied Porto in 2004, repeating the feat with Inter Milan in 2010. As if by chance, it’ll be six years in May that Mourinho pulled off his last European victory, so could it be that pattern will continue at the San Siro?
Eden Hazard took UEFA’s man-of-the-match award at Stamford Bridge. In truth, Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Porto wasn’t down to one player. It was about the team.
From front to back Chelsea were the unit that Mourinho craves. They glided in unison across the pitch, a factor best summed up with the team move that led to Willian doubling the lead in the second half.
A big part of that Chelsea team on Wednesday was Nemanja Matic, who told Bleacher Report that he and his team-mates are looking to go all the way in Europe this term.
"To win the Champions League is the ambition of every player," he said.
"There are many good teams and I hope we can do something. It’s still a long way before we can do that, but we’ll do our best because Chelsea have already won the Champions League and we want to do it again.
"The Premier League is also important for us and we will try to reach the top four."
Matic had to tack on finishing in the top four simply to give the remaining 23 Premier League matches some meaning for Chelsea.
That’s the hope they must cling to, yet the simple fact is that it’s going to be a monumental effort for things to end in Chelsea’s favour come May.
The reigning champions are 14 points off fourth place and Champions League qualification already. Given it’s taken an average of 72 points to reach the top four in the past five seasons, it means Chelsea will have to win 19 matches if they are to match that total.
That means dropping points in just four matches. The margins are too fine.
We’re not talking about starting that process in the new year, either. It needs to start now, Chelsea need three points against Leicester City next Monday.
When teams are in the position Chelsea find themselves, the task can be overwhelming. It’s not the ability of the players that will fail them, but more the psychological impact of climbing that mountain every week without any guarantee of reaching the top.
The Champions League is different. Chelsea aren’t playing for points; from the last 16 it quite literally is game by game.
That’s the mantra Mourinho himself has been preaching in recent weeks. Whenever asked how Chelsea will get out of this hole they find themselves, it’s always the same response. The targets are small, they’re not thinking about the top four.
Only they are. Every team with Chelsea’s credentials is, be that the opening day of the season or heading into the Christmas fixture list.
It’s that which drives elite players and it can equally prove their downfall.
Game by game works in the Champions League now. We’re six months away from the final even taking place, however it’ll take just six games to get there.
Play your cards right and teams need not even win all six. Indeed, they can come away with half that figure and still progress along the road to Milan.
Which is why Chelsea, in this season of all seasons, shouldn’t be fearing where the Champions League may take them. They should be embracing it.
The nature of Group G and Maccabi Tel Aviv being the whipping boys, we knew Chelsea’s fate would be decided by this result with Porto. Both teams were placed higher than Kiev, but it was the Ukrainian side that had the advantage of knowing either would drop points.
Chelsea-Porto was a play-off, a one-off. It ignored the fact Matchday 6 remained a group match and gave us cup football instead.
Chelsea excelled and did what they needed to. They can do it again in what remains of the Champions League this season, too.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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