Chelsea has spent €611.49m ($A946.83m) on transfers since their ownership takeover this season (per Transfermarkt), but the Blues’ dire run continued in a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of their Round of 16 clash.
Dortmund speedster Karim Adeyemi struck in the 63rd minute on a brilliant counter-attack, racing the length of the pitch before rounding the keeper and rolling the ball into the net just 16 seconds after a Chelsea corner was taken at the other end.
The Blues bombarded the hosts in the second stanza, but simply couldn’t find the back of the net as their scoring woes continued.
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Chelsea struck the bar through Joao Felix in the 37th minute, before defender Kalidou Koulibaly had a shot brilliantly cleared on the line by former Liverpool midfielder Emre Can 12 minutes from time.
The London side were also unlucky not to earn a penalty when Kai Havertz was taken down by centre-back Nicklas Sule in the box – who already tugged the shirt of the Blues forward outside the box. Sule appeared to miss the ball in his lunging tackle.
The Blues finished with a whopping 21 shots without scoring a potentially crucial away goal.
Archie Winter said on Stan Sport: “They must be wondering how they haven’t scored again … Chelsea must be wondering if some sort of voodoo forces are against them right now.”
“It’s just crazy that they didn’t (score),” Socceroos great Craig Foster said.
Premier League legend Rio Ferdinand said on BT Sport: “Chelsea spent all this money in the last couple of windows and didn’t get a number nine in the team, that’s a problem.”
He added: “That’s something he (coach Graham Potter) will think ‘we’ll get that at some point’ … they got undone by a clinical bit of finishing which they didn’t have in their own team.”
It was Dortmund’s seventh win in as many matches in 2023, while Chelsea has won just once from their last nine matches in all competitions.
Tensions rose in the second period, with ten players earning bookings – and with Mason Mount and
The Blues sit 10th in the Premier League, 20 points off Manchester City and Arsenal.
Meanwhile, Benfica closed in on booking their place in the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over Club Brugge in Belgium.
A Joao Mario penalty handed the Portuguese league leaders the lead six minutes into the second stanza, before David Neres doubled their lead in the dying minutes.
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