Porto v Chelsea player ratings
A mature Chelsea performance earned a professional 2-0 win against Porto. Here’s how we rated the Blues players in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie in Sevilla.
Edouard Mendy: 8
Exceptional positioning made most of his saves easier then they could have been, particularly when keeping out Pepe’s header and then racing from goal to block Moussa Marega’s shot after Antonio Rudiger’s lapse in concentration after the break.
Cesar Azpilicueta: 7
An awful miss from two yards from a delicious Reece James free-kick unfortunately jumps out in an otherwise typically assured and influential performance.
Andreas Christensen: 7
The Dane was solid and largely unflustered but his normal reliable long-range passing was a bit wayward – notably when trying to pick numerous runs by James in the first half.
Antonio Rudiger: 7
The German was as dominant and imposing as ever, however he was lucky that Mendy was alive to a second-half gaffe.
Reece James: 8
An exhausting performance from James who somehow managed to strike the tricky balance between fulfilling his defensive responsibilities with getting forward and trying to exploit the lack of cover down Porto’s left.
Jorginho: 7
Jorginho’s woeful performance against West Brom will not be forgotten by his harshest critics but his divine pass teed up Mount’s goal and he did a fine job of screening his back three.
Mateo Kovacic: 8
A relentless performance in the N’Golo Kante mould, breaking up play and anticipating danger, but the end product was missing on a couple of occasions at the end of his regularly impressive approach play.
Ben Chilwell: 8
The England left-back maintained his discipline throughout and was sensibly more watchful in his attempts to get forward than his wing-back partner James, until his devastating solo goal when he pounced to make it 2-0.
Mason Mount: 9
A first Champions League goal – gloriously taken after a sumptuous turn – gave Chelsea the lead. His standout efforts mirrored almost every one of his displays in a Chelsea shirt since breaking into the team. Mount was full of energy and full of quality.
Timo Werner: 6
Another display full of selfless running, but once again no goals. Werner also missed a golden headed chance within two minutes of the restart when he couldn’t quite leap high enough to meet Mount’s cross.
Kai Havertz: 5
Chelsea’s record signing struggled to get into the game and his touch all too often deserted him. Havertz’s work-rate was excellent and his movement created space on both flanks, but his influence in possession was negligible.
Christian Pulisic: 7
The American posed problems after coming on and was a whisker away from a second Chelsea goal when his fierce strike smashed against the bar.
Olivier Giroud: 6
Showed the importance of having a target man with some smart hold-up play after replacing Havertz.
Thiago Silva: 6
An impressive cameo from Silva, whose know-how and experience made a difference late on.
N’Golo Kante: 7
Came on to shore things up in the closing stages and did just that as well getting forward and giving the Portuguese side more to think about defensively.
