Chelsea was on top of the game until Mason Mount’s injury; one he got from a brutal tackle from Arsenal former player Coquelin. Valencia seemed to have played comfortably in their own half, although they put a couple of nice passes in midfield without making any advancement upfront. Abraham had a couple of half-chances and Chelsea won a couple of corners but it was not the most eventful start.
With goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen in perfect form, and appointment of the new manager, Albert Calade, they did well to grab three points from Stanford Bridge. Valencia capitalized on Mount’s injury in the first half to dominate the midfield. With just 16 minutes left to play, the breakthrough came.
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The Mates capitalized on the weakness of the Chelsea team and Rodrigo Moreno prodded in Dani Parejo’s free-kick to net in the ball. VAR came to the rescue for Frank Lampard’s team. A penalty was awarded when Daniel Wass blocked Tomori’s header. Nigerian-British player Ross Barkley, stepped up to take the penalty as he overruled William’s decision. Things, however, went bad for him as the ball met the crossbar; denying them the chance to share points.
Barkley’s Nationality
The former Everton player, Ross Barkley, wanted to play for Nigeria, before his debut for England in 2013. He said Nigeria is one country he would have played for, but he chose his birth country.
Apart from having a Nigerian grandfather, he is born to Nigerian Peter Effanga who lives in Liverpool and work with the Getrag Ford Transmission Plant. The Chelsea midfielder is answering his mother’s maiden name, Barkley, due to an incident that happened in his mother and father’s union.
What Caused The Miss?
Ross Barkley has missed five penalties in his career and it seems that last night’s miss will be his last for the club.
The reactions of some of his teammates contributed to the miss of the penalty. Brazilian William was seen showing a depressing face as Ross collected the ball to play. Others said is an act of disrespect to collect the ball from William to play.
However, Chelsea boss, Lampard, has come out to say anybody can miss a penalty and William or Jurginho could have also missed too. “When players miss penalty it becomes a problem, but when they score nobody talks” he added.
