Graham Potter praised a ‘fantastic’ Mason Mount as Chelsea earned themselves a 2-0 win over a 10-man AC Milan at the San Siro.
After a difficult start to their Champions League campaign, Chelsea ran out comfortable 3-0 winners in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge last week to maintain their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages.
Chelsea were comfortably the better when the sides met six days ago, and despite a bright start by the Italian hosts this time round, there would be a huge turning point in the contest in the 18th minute. Mason Mount got in behind the AC Milan backline and was adjudged to have been fouled by Fikayo Tomori.
The former Blues defender was seen to have had an arm on the shoulder of his former teammate while through on goal, with the referee quickly showing the 24-year-old a straight red card. Chelsea’s regular penalty taker, Jorginho, stepped up and coolly slotted past Ciprian Tatarusanu to net his 26th spot kick for the Blues.
AC Milan are down to 10-men!!
Former Blue Fikayo Tomori sees red inside 20 minutes giving Chelsea a chance to go 1-0 up from the penalty spot… 🟥#UCL pic.twitter.com/fk2oV2Gnm0
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 11, 2022
Despite being down to 10 men, AC Milan did have a gilt-edged chance to level the scores in the 24th minute, a ball from the right finding the unmarked Olivier Giroud, only for the former Chelsea striker to surprisingly send his header wide.
With 34 minutes on the clock, Chelsea doubled their advantage through a slick move. Matteo Kovacic played the ball into the feet of the impressive Mason Mount, who played a lovely first-time pass into the path of Raheem Sterling. The England international let the ball run into the path of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who slotted home into the bottom corner.
The Rossoneri did continue to try to get forward, though they were only able to force Kepa Arrizabalaga into one save across the 90 minutes as Chelsea largely controlled the game.
For the neutral, the clash wasn’t the most memorable, with German referee Daniel Siebert regularly stopping play and dishing out cards, left, right and centre, with nine yellows following Tomori’s red.
The win makes it four on the spin for Graham Potter’s side, and speaking afterwards, the Blues boss was pleased with his side’s performance, but admitted they ‘had a bit of luck’.
“To come here and win is not easy,” he told BT Sport. “Credit to the players. They were really good. We had a bit of luck with the opposition going down to 10 men.
What a slick move! 💫
Aubameyang makes it 2-0 to Chelsea and the Blues look to be cruising to 3 points…#UCL pic.twitter.com/4ZQ9Y9H7Lh
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) October 11, 2022
“Overall the performance was good. It’s nice to keep a clean sheet and to come away with three points is fantastic.”
Asked about the red card, he said: “It’s hard from where I’m sitting. It looks like he had his hand on him and Mason Mount was through on goal. I need to look again clearly. It’s nice for the penalty and nice for Jorginho to score. It was a nice move to lead to it. It is what it is. Sometimes they go for you.
“It’s tricky. You want to control the game but not to be too passive. With the atmosphere here, one action can result in a goal, the stadium erupts and they feel like they have an extra man.”
Mason Mount has been particularly impressive following Potter’s appointment last month, and having played a pivotal role in both goals, was taken off at half-time.
“He’s really important,” Potter said of the 23-year-old. “He was on a yellow card and he’s played a lot of football so at half-time we gave him a breather.
“He was fantastic. He was a constant threat. I’ve been really pleased with him from the start. He’s a really important player.”
