London Calling is column covering football in the English capital
The biggest stories of the sporting week in London concerned Chelsea’s dismal exit from the Champions League, in particular the space between Thibaut Courtois’ legs, a potentially offensive football shirt and the Irish Grand Slam.
More to come on the latter.
In midweek Chelsea became the latest victims of the Barcelona footballing machine after going down 3-0 (4-1 on aggregate) at the Nou Camp. Chelsea played well and after losing a third minute goal were actually the dominant side for most of the first half.
That will be of scant consolation to their goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Two of the three goals were slid between his legs and that became the focus for the media the following day as much as the consequences of Chelsea’s exit.
Courtois was defiant in the face of the criticism.
“I know who I don’t have to listen to – those that hope to kill me,” he told the London Evening Standard.
To his credit, many would have opted to skip a tv interview in the immediate of a game where two glaring mistakes had cost his team. Not the brave Belgian who lashed out at the media.
“There are those that when you are at the top, they just wait for that one little moment to destroy you. But nothing will destroy me I will continue to work hard. I am hurt over what happened. I don’t feel great at all.”
There was anger directed his way too on social media from the West London club’s fans. He addressed that directly.
“The Chelsea fans know I have made a lot of good saves to win games in the past.”
Courtois’ honesty and bravery is to be commended for facing the media immediately his error strewn match had ended.
Courtois was defiant in the London press
His side played again on Sunday but as it was an FA Cup game, Argentinian reserve keeper Willy Caballero started the game.
He performed admirably in a difficult 1-2 win at Leicester and that presents manager Antonio Conte with a dilemma.
Caballero kept a clean sheet in his one league game, a 0-4 win at Brighton and would appear to be ready for a league start.
However, Conte has to be aware that dropping Courtois to allow him to regain his confidence might take longer than hoped.
In the EPL, they sit fifth and trail fourth placed Spurs by five points. Normally they might resort to favouring the FA Cup, but the one chance they might have of bridging the gap to fourth place is on April 1, when Spurs visit Stamford Bridge. And as anyone who’s experience the rivalry knows you don’t rest players for Chelsea v Tottenham.
It seems likely for now that the extra days rest before the next competitive game might allow Courtois the time to shake off the Nou Camp blues, which leaves him in contention for the FA Cup semi final against Southampton and to keep his league starting slot.
However, if similar calamities happen against their London rivals and Chelsea find themselves an even more distant fifth, it may be that Conte, thought to be departing anyway, decides to stick with Caballero all the way to the FA Cup Final.
The victory at Leicester was hard earned and well deserved against a talented side for whom the Riyad Mahrez partnership with Jamie Vardy looked potent once more, although the excellent Marc Albrighton was the best player on either side.
In even better news, the Blues avoided the two sides above them in the semi final draw and pulled out relegation threatened Southampton at Wembley.
There is therefore no excuse for the Blues not to reach the FA Cup Final and give their season meaning right to the very end. But the question remains; who will get the key minutes between the posts?
