Premier League produced five participants in this season's Champions League, and all indications show that an English side can reclaim the title that last resided in England in 2013. Chelsea was the last English team to win the Champions League after stunning Bayern Munich on post-match penalties with Didier Drogba scoring the winning spot-kick. Most indications are showing that the crown is likely to go to England given that the country has more representatives than other European nations.
All the English teams taking part in the Champions League were victorious in their first two matches except Liverpool who could only afford draws in the opening two fixtures.
Against many people's expectations, Chelsea is the first Premier League team to succumb to defeat after suffering a comprehensive 3-0 loss in Italy at the hands of AS Roma. The West Londoners are currently third in Group C where every team still has a mathematical chance of making it to the Round of 16.
What transpired in Rome
Antonio Conte traveled to Italy with a near full strength team given that only Victor Moses was out with an injury. Even though N'golo Kante had recovered from the injury that had laid him off from past matches, Antonio Conte couldn't risk playing the French midfield maestro. The former Juventus manager paraded his stars, including Eden Hazard, Pedro Rodriguez, Alvaro Morata and Cesc Fabregas but the English giants fell behind in the first minute of the game.
It took Stephan El Shaarawy only a minute to get on the score sheet before doubling the lead in the thirty-sixth minute, ensuring that the Italian club went to the break leading with two goals. Eighteen minutes after the break, Diego Perotti increased the hosts' advantage by scoring the third goal to put the game beyond Chelsea's reach.
The visitors made wholesome changes in the second-half but their effort bore no fruit. In fact, AS Roma's final goal came after Conte had substituted Gary Cahill with Willian to improve Chelsea's attack, but the change left the defense bare, thus leaving room for Perotti to score.
Surprisingly, the hotly contested game that was officiated by Jonas Eriksson realized no card.
The result saw Chelsea swap positions with AS Roma climbing to the first spot after garnering eight points, while Chelsea was displaced to the second place two points behind the leaders. The group is open to all the group members, and the English champions must be glad to hear the news that Atletico Madrid and Qarabag FK match ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
The Italian inclusion
The say goes, 'If you go to Rome, do as Romans do.' In line with the saying, Antonio Conte incorporated players with Serie A experience in his starting eleven including Marcos Alonso, Alvaro Morata, and Antonio Ruediger, but nothing of value came out of it. Antonio Conte was outclassed in the match despite being an Italian who has coached Juventus, SPAL 2013 and the Italian national team.
AS Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco was himself smart enough to draft players with experience in the Premier League to exploit the secrets of Chelsea's success in England. In fact, all the goals in the first-leg came from former Manchester City players where Aleksandar Kolarov opened the scoring before Edin Dzeko added his brace in the 3-3 draw in London a fortnight ago.
