After everything that’s happened in the last week or so, all the upheaval caused by the sacking of Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea needed something here. Graham Potter needed something here. It was the new coach’s first experience of a draw in the Champions League, a detail to highlight his sudden rise. It was going to be a wild night for him.
For much of the second half, it looked like Raheem Sterling had set Potter’s tenure in motion. With a roll of his cleats to set up the ball and a flick of his right boot, the wide forward found the far corner of the Red Bull Salzburg net and Chelsea could feel a similar spark for their Champions League campaign, after the trauma of defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the first leg.
Salzburg had other ideas. As Potter directed his players in new ways, it was a battle for cohesion, for clarity, and the punch would come. Thiago Silva had been a case study in how to defend, a model of composure, hearing praise from the home support. Then he was wrong.
The ball was his to beat on the left side of the Chelsea defence, only to miss his challenge on substitute Junior Adamu, sneaking in but failing to make the necessary contact. Salzburg entered. Adamu crossed low and Noah Okafor made his play. Moments earlier, substitute Dijon Kameri had headed Kepa Arrizabalaga. Now Okafor’s shot deflected off César Azpilicueta to beat the goalkeeper.
Chelsea tried to answer, so did Potter. He threw in substitutes, looking for solutions, desperation mounting. His system was fluid, sometimes hard to categorize. Reece James pushed high to the right, Sterling even higher to the left. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang struggled as a focal point. Between them, the midfielders drifted and drained.
Two of the alternates had openings. Hakim Ziyech failed to focus as he also shot weakly past goalkeeper Philipp Kohn. In between, Armando Broja hit a high shot when he could have done better. Frustration mounted for Potter, a bit of a huff greeting the full-time whistle.
A banner shows a tribute to the Queen at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images
Chelsea remain at the bottom of their group and next up is the home and away clash against Milan. With Sunday’s home game against Liverpool postponed due to the pull of police resources ahead of the Queen’s funeral, Chelsea will not play again until after the international break, at Crystal Palace on October 1. There will be plenty of time to cook this result.
The atmosphere had died down with the countdown to start; the music in the stadium slow and bad, thoughts with His Majesty. It was a couple of Chelsea pensioners who came out of the tunnel first to lay wreaths and there were loud renditions of God Save The Queen. The pre-match minute’s silence was impeccably observed, except for an announcer speaking through headphones in the press box. The Chelsea bench gave him ugly looks.
Potter’s entrance was the definition of understated, by necessity. Dressed in a black suit and tie, he approached his technical area, where he briefly applauded all four corners of the stadium. The response was decent.
Potter wants security on the ball, the confidence to play out of difficult situations, but Kepa almost unnerved his team early on with a strong pass to Jorginho on the edge of the box. Benjamin Sesko pounced to win it and Salzburg looked to be going for it. Sesko, however, was penalized for a soft foul.
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Chelsea struggled to tie the scores before the interval, to create much of the clear note. Too many times, the final action went wrong or Salzburg had a body in the way. James teed up Strahinja Pavlovic but his cross was too far past Aubameyang. Sterling was beaten by his man at the other end but his deliveries failed to find their target.
Chelsea’s best opening in the first half went to Mason Mount; fired over from the edge of the box, while Kepa had to be alert to keep away a curler from Sesko.
Tuchel was greeted by the home crowd on 21 minutes as the German won Chelsea’s second Champions League title in 2021. They may no longer have Super Tommy Tuchel, but he will always have a place in their affections . Potter’s bid to achieve this had started with centre-backs Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly, recruited in the summer for a combined £108.8m, on the bench. Ben Chilwell joined them there. On the pitch, Chelsea encountered robust and physical opponents, none taller than Pavlovic at the back and Sesko up top.
James sparked the breakthrough and when Mount crossed from the right, Bernardo missed the kick to put Sterling through. The goal would not be decisive. “It’s not the position we want to be in,” Potter said. “We have to respond.”