From nightmare to dream for Chelsea on this final matchday of the Champions League. We witnessed a versatile team, capable of adapting to an aggressive but insufficiently calculated Napoli side.
Chelsea surprised everyone upon arriving at the Diego Maradona Stadium. Indeed, Liam Rosenior opted for a 3-4-3 system, with James and Cucurella deployed as wide center-backs flanking Wesley Fofana, who held the central position in the back line. The objective was to prevent Napoli from exploiting depth through balls deflected by their Danish striker Højlund. This setup gave the match a strong sense of intensity, mirroring Napoli’s aggressive pressing against the Chelsea players. Thanks to this pressing and their occupation of space, Napoli managed to score two goals. On the first, a mistake by Santos allowed Vergara to break through and dribble past everyone. The second came from a cross by Oliveira, finished by the Danish striker Højlund, who got the better of Wesley Fofana. Chelsea were trailing two goals to one, but before Napoli took the lead, Chelsea had opened the scoring through a penalty converted by Enzo Fernández.
To address certain issues—most notably the lack of creativity in Chelsea’s attack—Cole Palmer came on in place of Pedro Neto. The English winger was positioned centrally in the system, which immediately improved Chelsea’s passing and ball circulation. Without having to force things, João Pedro finally found a player with whom he could combine. On Chelsea’s equalizer, Cole Palmer found João Pedro centrally, and the Brazilian turned brilliantly to unleash a powerful, thunderous strike. The third goal once again came from a perfectly weighted through ball by Cole Palmer for João Pedro, who finished with a composed low, angled shot.
Compared to the start of Chelsea’s Champions League campaign, we now see a team that is versatile and capable of adapting to all kinds of scenarios. Far removed from the rigidity and extreme positional dogmatism of former coach Enzo Maresca, this Chelsea side looks like a team that wants to win and is unafraid to abandon its core principles to do so. The Blues’ end to the match stands in sharp contrast to what we saw in Bergamo in December, when Enzo Maresca’s inability to adapt ultimately cost Chelsea the victory.