After giving up a penalty and getting sent off just 18 minutes into what had been described as a chance for him and AC Milan to atone for their transgressions against Chelsea, Fikayo Tomori won’t want to run into his former Chelsea teammates or referee Daniel Siebert anytime soon.
Things proceeded from bad to worse in the San Siro as Tomori desperately tried to recover from what had been a disastrous night at Stamford Bridge the week prior, and he must now pray that he hasn’t played himself out of England’s World Cup squad.
While Tomori’s former teammates may have some sympathy for his red card, Chelsea took full advantage of his suspension, and this was a significant victory for head coach Graham Potter, who had not been put to the test in the previous game.
Following back-to-back victories against Milan, Chelsea has risen to the top of Group E following the draw with Salzburg in his first game as manager. Not bad for a so-called newbie at this level, and Potter, sporting his James Bond touchline getup, has quickly revived the Blues’ positive vibe.
If there was one criticism, it would be that the visitors did not score more after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Jorginho put Chelsea up after Tomori’s penalty was awarded.
Tomori likely believed that things could not have been much worse than they did during last week’s match at Stamford Bridge, where he was partially to blame for an Aubameyang goal.
For the start of the second half, Conor Gallagher took the place of Mount, one of the players who had received a caution. Kepa Arrizabalaga had to extend a leg to block Sandro Tonali from finding a teammate inside the Chelsea area.
Only a few minutes after coming on, Gallagher should have scored but instead fired wide after being put through on goal by Trevoh Chalobah.
On the hour mark, Milan produced their second significant opportunity of the game despite being down a man after pushing the ball out to the advancing Sergino Dest, who had been added as a first-half substitution, but the full-back fired wide.