2020/21 UEFA Youth League cancelled

The decision was confirmed in a statement from the governing body this afternoon (Wednesday) and means Andy Myers’ team, who were scheduled to welcome RB Salzburg to Cobham in March, will be without European football this season.

The statement from UEFA reads:

‘Since the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee to play the UEFA Youth League 2020/21 as a straight knock-out competition as of March 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic and the related measured imposed by health authorities around Europe have continued to evolve. Following the UYL R64 draw in January 2021, UEFA has been in particular monitoring the travel restrictions affecting the participating clubs in their respective matches very closely.

‘Unfortunately, the situation is not yet evolving positively across Europe and the attitude of the governments towards travel restrictions has become more inflexible as we are experiencing also in the UEFA Champions League and Europa League. Moreover, we have increasingly received over the past few days concerns raised by several of this season’s participating clubs regarding their ability to travel or to stage matches.

‘We strongly believe that the health and safety of people must be given priority, and, to our regret, we have to conclude that the conditions to restart the UEFA Youth League are not met in the current circumstances. As a rescheduling and reformatting has already been made, there would be no possibilities to further postpone the start of the competition during this season. Consequently, the UEFA Executive Committee took the decision to cancel the 2020/21 UEFA Youth League.

‘While we know that many of you may be disappointed, we hope you can understand this difficult decision. We are fully aware of the importance of this competition for the development of your players and academies and the significance for the overall growth and development of the game.

‘We thank you very much for your efforts and collaboration in the past weeks and wish you all the best for your youth domestic championships. We look forward to seeing your club in the coming future at the UEFA Youth League.’

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Chelsea Foundation join forces with ADL to launch ‘Say No To Hate’ programme across schools in the UK

To mark the launch, over 50 children from schools in the US and UK were brought together for an online workshop and were tasked with a number of interactive activities, including creating words and images of items that they felt represented them. They were then invited to discuss the reasons they selected these images with the other young participants on the call.

During the session the children heard from Chelsea Men’s player and US international Christian Pulisic, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt and Chelsea Club Chairman, Bruce Buck.

Simon Taylor, Head of Chelsea Foundation, said: ‘We are delighted to be working alongside ADL in creating our ‘Say No To Hate’ programme.

‘We have seen how big of an impact ADL’s ‘No Place for Hate’ programme has had in schools in the US and that’s enabled us to create a UK-based version which will be rolled out in our schools here in England.

‘Our ‘Say No To Hate’ programme will provide children with educational workshops on diversity, inclusion and how discrimination of any kind has no place in football, or society.

‘We are very much looking forward to continuing our work with ADL and educating the younger generation through the programme.’

National Director of Prek-12 Education programmes at ADL, Caterina Rodriguez, added: ‘ADL could not be more excited to partner with the Chelsea Foundation in helping UK students challenge bias and celebrate inclusion through the Say No To Hate programme, inspired by ADL’s ‘No Place for Hate’ programme in US schools.

‘What a perfect way to launch this programme by virtually bringing together ‘Say No To Hate’ and ‘No Place for Hate’ students to explore the various aspects of identity and discuss the importance of getting to know someone in their full complexity.

‘It is inspiring and humbling to witness these young students leading conversations and efforts to ensure that their schools are places where all students can thrive.’

To learn more about the work of ADL, click here

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Telford signs new Chelsea contract

As well as maintaining her spot in the senior team, within the new deal Telford will also take up a part-time coaching role from next season to continue her development, offering support and training to our Under-16 and Under-18 goalkeepers.

After a discussion with Blues boss Emma Hayes and general manager Paul Green, it was realised that a position coaching our youngsters was the perfect fit for both Telford and the club.

Telford said: ‘For me, I’ve always loved helping develop players around me, not just goalkeepers but outfield players as well.

‘Sometimes it can come quite natural and I think that’s what they’ve identified, and we sat down and decided that there is an opportunity to help the youngsters in our Under-16s and Under-18s.

‘I’m really excited because the coaching set-up at Chelsea is amazing, not just at senior level with the experiences that we have with winning lots of trophies, but our youth set-up is fantastic as well.

‘I’ll be helping those girls, keeping them at Chelsea and improving them as people and as players.

‘I would like to help Chelsea produce goalkeepers that come through our own pathway and become senior goalkeepers for the club.’

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Giroud happy for Kepa clean sheet

‘We started well again with great intentions to play between the lines,’ said Giroud. ‘We created quite a lot of chances, could have put the game to bed before, but we are very pleased with the clean sheet and we carry on our good work.’

The reason he was particularly pleased by that clean sheet is that it came on Kepa Arrizabalaga’s first Premier League start since October. The goalkeeper has had to be patient since the arrival of Edouard Mendy, but was given the chance to deputise again for the visit of Newcastle.

The Spaniard added another clean sheet to go with the one he kept in the FA Cup last week, and our striker feels it was deserved reward for the attitude shown by the goalkeeper while out of the team.

‘I’m happy for him,’ added Giroud. ‘He’s stayed focused on his job and committed to what he has to do. Every day at training he is working hard to be ready when the manager will ask him to play and he played very well I think, like the team.’

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Sam Kerr on a professional performance, strikers scoring and maintaining high standards

Kerr, Kirby, Harder and England have a combined total of 48 goals and the Australian believes we are now seeing the benefit of the work put in on the training pitch.

She added: ‘Every week in training it’s so competitive, whoever is on the pitch.

‘We’ve all played together a lot now, and it’s nice to see us all get on the scoresheet.

‘I’m happy to be contributing to the team, that’s what my job is, that’s what I’m here for.

‘The more we win the better for me.’

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The Debrief: Commanding Kovacic controls Chelsea tempo as persistence pays off for Werner

Overall we had 18 efforts, split equally between those attempted with right feet, left feet and head. A third were on target. Alonso’s five shots was more than anyone else. We created four big chances.

Defensive discipline required

As Thomas Tuchel noted, the Blues were less imposing after half-time as Newcastle fought to try and get back into the contest.

Eight of their 10 attempts came in the second half, with six of our 18 in the same timeframe. Our possession and pass completion rate dropped slightly after the break, and we won more corners and tackles in the first half. We were forced into many more clearances at 2-0 up, too (13 to four).

The defence stood firm to record a fourth clean sheet in five league outings. The captain Cesar Azpilicueta was especially impressive, recording Chelsea-high figures for tackles won (five), clearances (four) and interceptions (two).

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Watch highlights of Chelsea’s win over Newcastle

Olivier Giroud and Timo Werner found the net in the first half to help Thomas Tuchel’s side to a deserved victory. It lifts Chelsea to fourth in the Premier League table. 

You can watch the goals and the other key moments in the video above, and hear Tuchel’s reaction to the game below. 

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Tuchel reflects on game of two halves and isn’t getting carried away about our return to the top four

We defeated the Magpies 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to move into the Champions League qualification places, thanks to goals from Olivier Giroud and Timo Werner in a dominant first half.

However, it was a very different story after the break as Newcastle fought back and forced us to work hard to maintain our two goal lead.

‘I liked the first half,’ he said. ‘We played with courage and had a lot of touches in the box and a lot of shots. We managed to keep them away from our box and did not allow chances or even half-chances so I liked that a lot.

‘During the whole match, we lacked precision in the last decision and we lacked decision-making in the box. We can be more deadly, more precise and more decisive that we create even more chances of our half-chances.

‘In the second half, the first three or four minutes were more or less the picture for the whole half. We suddenly gave away two shots in the first two minutes, we lost duels, we had suddenly corners against us and I felt we had the feeling of something to lose.

‘We played too many balls back when we could escape the pressure, we did not open up or keep the advantage to put the game into the opponent’s half. The counter-attacks in the second half were not precise or clinical enough to score a third goal and finish the game.’

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Match report: Chelsea 2 Newcastle United 0

Chelsea (3-4-2-1): Kepa; Azpilicueta (c), Christensen, Rudiger; Hudson-Odoi (James 77), Jorginho, Kovacic, Alonso; Mount (Kante 70), Werner; Abraham (Giroud 20)

Unused subs: Mendy, Zouma, Emerson, Chilwell, Ziyech, Pulisic

Scorers: Giroud 31, Werner 38

Newcastle United (4-2-3-1): Darlow; Krafth, Clark, Lascelles (c), Lewis; Shelvey, Hayden; Willock (Carroll 79), Almiron, Saint-Maximin (Fraser 72); Gayle (Joelinton 64)

Unused subs: Dubravka, Dummett, M Longstaff, Ritchie, Murphy, S Longstaff

Referee: Peter Bankes

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Women’s report: Bristol City 0 Chelsea 5

Alas, Super Fran’s quest for a treble came to an end with the next stoppage in play, as she made way, along with Ji, with Erin Cuthbert and Guro Reiten coming on for the final 20 minutes. Drew Spence and Jessie Fleming also came off the bench, replacing Harder and Ingle.

By this point, with the rain continuing to hammer down, it was just a case of seeing the game out. That was achieved with the minimum of fuss, meaning we’ll take a handy lead at the top of the WSL standings into the upcoming international break.
We’re not in action again until Sunday 7 March, when we travel to West Ham United, but make sure you check chelseafc.com or the 5th Stand app on Tuesday to find out who our next Champions League opponents will be, with the draw for the last 16 taking place at lunchtime.

Chelsea (4-1-3-2) Berger; Mjelde, Bright, Eriksson (c), Andersson; Ingle (Spence 82); Kirby (Cuthbert 69), Harder (Fleming 82), Ji (Reiten 69); England, Kerr
Unused subs Telford, Blundell, Carter
Scorers Kirby 14, 40, Harder 36, Kerr 55, England 60

Bristol (4-1-4-1) Baggaley; Allen (Bryson 68), Skeels, Evans, Purfield; Matthews (c) (Palmer 53); Wellings, Pike, Humphrey (Bissell 74), Daniels (Harrison 74), Salmon
Unused subs Haaland, Rafferty, Collis, Mastrantonio, Jones

Referee Emily Heaslip

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