The week started with disappointment against a team in blue and white stripes, but Chelsea ended it, and their season, in more positive fashion by beating a very good Brighton team wearing the same colours 2-1 in Lancing to bring the curtain down on the 2018-19 academy campaign. A third UEFA Youth League title eluded the group last weekend, as their titanic tilt against Barcelona in Friday’s Semi Final took…
UEFA Youth League: FC Porto 3-1 Chelsea
For the second year in a row, Chelsea left Nyon empty-handed, their pursuit of a third UEFA Youth League title unsuccessful at the last. The bitter disappointment of last year’s capitulation to Barcelona will fade into exhausted regret this time around. Twelve months ago, they didn’t do themselves justice, and they knew it. This season, they will themselves to the Final again, leading for just nine minutes of knockout round…
The Loan Report: April 23-28
It was a quieter week than usual on the loan front, with just one goal to take us to 99 overall for the season, but there’s still a lot to play for in the final weeks of the season. Headliners The goal was scored by Alvaro Morata during Atlético Madrid’s midweek win over Valencia. It was his sixth for his new club, more than he scored in his time at…
UEFA Youth League: One More River To Cross
“We came here to get our trophy back.” Amid the euphoria of Friday’s dramatic penalty shootout triumph against Barcelona, Chelsea Under-19 coach Joe Edwards reminded his players of their purpose in Nyon, Switzerland. Yes, there was an undercurrent of revenge about the Semi Final after losing a Final to the same opponents a year earlier, but more than that, this was about restoring their own glory. To quickly recount the…
Under-18s: Reading 0-2 Chelsea
Chelsea’s recent seasons have typically ended in a blaze of glory but, on an unseasonably windy day in Berkshire, they brought the curtain down on a campaign of learning with more than a hint towards the promise of the future. They might have finished without silverware for the first time in more than half a decade, but as Dion Rankine and Lewis Bate scored the goals to see them defeat…
UEFA Youth League: Back To Nyon Again
In the brand-spanking-new trophy cabinet in Chelsea’s Cobham academy building, two Lennart Johansson Trophies take pride of place on the top shelf. There is space for a third to sit between them but, instead, a forlorn runners-up plaque lurks almost embarrassingly behind them, as if trying to hide itself among so much success. The Blues head to Nyon in Switzerland this weekend for the fourth time in five years hoping…
