Chelsea 0-1 Valencia: European champs lose their first game on return to Champions League

At least Ross Barkley can’t be blamed for a lack of confidence.

‘No, no..it’s me..no problem,’ the Chelsea substitute seemed to be saying to team-mates as he prepared to take the late penalty that only he seemed to think belonged to him at Stamford Bridge.

On the field for less than ten minutes and surrounded by Chelsea’s man of the moment Tammy Abraham, Tuesday night’s man of the match Willian and the last man to score a regulation time penalty for the club, Jorginho, Barkley nevertheless decided that this was to be his moment.

Valencia’s Rodrigo celebrates after volleying beyond Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga at Stamford Bridge

The midfielder latched on to Daniel Parejo’s smart chipped free-kick to volley into the top corner from close range

Chelsea midfielder Ross Barkley looks dejected after missing a penalty in the dying minutes against Valencia

Ross Barkley sees his free-kick fly into the Stamford Bridge crowd after hitting the crossbar from the penalty spot

MATCH FACTS AND GROUP TABLE

Chelsea: Kepa, Christensen, Tomori, Zouma (Giroud 73), Azpilicueta, Kovacic (Barkley 80), Jorginho, Alonso, Willian, Mount (Pedro 15), Abraham 

Subs not used: Caballero, Pulisic, Batshuayi, Guehi

Bookings: Jorginho, Giroud

Goals: None

Valencia: Cillessen, Wass, Garay, Gabriel, Gaya, Kondogbia, Parejo, Coquelin, Cheryshev (Diakhaby 90+2), Rodrigo (Lee 90), Gameiro (Gomez 70)

Subs not used: Doménech, Costa, Gonçalo Guedes, Torres,

Bookings: Coquelin

Goals: Rodrigo (74)

Referee: Cuneyt Cakir

And so it turned out. This was indeed to be his moment, just not for the reason he hoped. Barkley never looked like missing until he did. A puff of the cheeks, a short run-up and a lofted shot that struck the top of the bar and sailed in to the crowd, taking Chelsea’s hopes of salvaging this game with it.

Players should not be criticised for confidence. Barkley is a young English footballer in the process of moving his career through the gears again for club and country after a couple of years in the shadows. He clearly thought he was the man for this occasion.

But we have seen a situation like this before this season, when Manchester United’s Paul Pogba took a penalty from Marcus Rashford in a Premier League game at Wolves and missed it.

Certainly it’s puzzling when this happens at elite level. We presume Chelsea do have a designated penalty taker and last night Lampard claimed it was indeed Barkley. But if that is the case then why the need for such discussion on the field? At the very least it served to muddy the waters.  

Willian missed a fine opportunity to open the scoring on 40 minutes; volleying over the crossbar from 12 yards

Before this, Barkley had only scored three spot-kicks in anything but a shootout in his career and the last one was in February 2016. The last kick Chelsea won was against Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup and Jorginho took it successfully.

Barkley’s miss was cruel on Lampard as Chelsea deserved and needed at least a point against Valencia here. Their next game in Group H is away at Lille in a fortnight and if they lose it, this could be a very short campaign. 

On a bad night, Lampard also lost Mason Mount to injury. The young midfielder was left in a heap by former Arsenal player Francis Coquelin in only the sixth minute. Coquelin took the ball with a lunging tackle but followed through to hurt Mount. He received a yellow card but it could have been red.

The medical bulletin on Mount on Wednesday will be crucial. He has started the season well and the goal he scored at Wolves at the weekend was lovely. Lampard does not have a deep squad and frankly he needs him.

After that incident, Chelsea were still the better team for long periods. They do struggle to play consistently well for a whole game and that was once again apparent here.

Nevertheless, they were good enough in the first half for the excellent Willian to come close three times and for Abraham to miss with a header. At the other end, Valencia occasionally broke with pace, purpose and fluency but did not create clear chances.

Champions League debutant Mason Mount lays on the turf after a robust challenge by ex-Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin

The second period wanted a little for intensity at times and Valencia did become more dangerous on the counter as time wore on. Chelsea had been served one warning when striker Kevin Gameiro broke free on to a well-rehearsed low corner to drive a shot over just before the hour but did not take heed. Quarter of an hour later Valencia were ahead.

This time it was a free-kick that did for them. Daniel Parejo – once of QPR – chipped the ball in to the path of a diagonal run from Rodrigo – once of Bolton – and his volley was mishit a little as it deceived Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa and found the top corner.

It was a training ground goal and all the more admirable for it. Nevertheless, Chelsea were asleep as Rodrigo made his run out of the pack gathered on the edge of the penalty area and replays suggested it was Jorginho who had lost his man.

Frank Lampard patrols the Stamford Bridge touchline during his first Champions League game as Chelsea manager

A Valencia fan holds a sign in protest over Singaporean businessman Peter Lim’s ownership of the club

Chelsea had fashioned chances prior to that and they kept coming in the closing stages. The late handball by Valencia right-back Daniel Wass was clear enough for the referee to award after a look at the VAR screen with four minutes to go.

Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori – excellent at both ends of the field – very much headed the ball on to his opponent’s hand but that seems to be enough to qualify as an offence these days.

Chelsea deserved their lifeline but between them they let it go. Both players and rookie manager will need to learn lessons from this.