Chelsea supporters one discouragement from their victory over Atletico Madrid yesterday was the yellow card Mason Mount picked up in the first half.
With less than one minute on the clock, Madrid latched onto a loose pass and began to break upon the Blues.
Mount intervened with a challenge that lacked any malice whatsoever.
Regardless, Felix Brych brandished the card and put Chelsea’s midfield maestro into his notebook.
The most damaging aspect of this wasn’t the fact Mount had to try to avoid a second booking for nearly 75 minutes.
It meant he would miss the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge next month, because he’d already carried two yellow cards with him from the group stages.
This will be a major blow for Chelsea and their fans felt that on social media.
Other than Mount’s moment of disappointment, the rest of the match couldn’t have gone much better for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
Olivier Giroud’s acrobatic effort was enough to seal a well-earned away victory, despite the tie being played at a neutral venue in Bucharest.
They were organised in defence and rarely gave Madrid’s attack room to breathe.
The Chelsea Chronicle View
It’s typical Chelsea luck that we lose our best player for arguably the most important game of the season.
But we’ve done it before without our main men European competitions.
Remember the 2012 Champions League final? No John Terry or Branislav Ivanovic, but I guess we managed to cope without them…
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