At least there was no public humiliation for Filip Jörgensen from his manager. But while Liam Rosenior did not do an Igor Tudor and hook his goalkeeper, this hurt. It is why a goalkeeper passing out from the back only looks clever until the moment it goes wrong.
Above all, it was tough for Chelsea to take. They impressed at the Parc des Princes, twice pegging Paris Saint-Germain back, but there was no escaping the reality that the focus was on the moment Jörgensen’s stray ball out gifted the European champions the advantage in this last-16 Champions League tie.
In the end a sometimes flimsy but often thrilling PSG had a 5-2 lead to take to Stamford Bridge for next week’s second leg after two late goals from Kvicha Kvaratshkelia. But the frustration for Chelsea was immense. It seemed they would silence claims their win over PSG in the Club World Cup final was a one-off. But by full-time Enzo Fernández was arguing with Jörgensen, who was brought in by Rosenior, over his shoddy distribution.
After the farce of Tottenham’s experiment with Antonin Kinsky against Atlético Madrid, the early focus in Paris was on another big goalkeeping call. From Rosenior, there was the boldness to start Jörgensen over Robert Sánchez. A gamble? Sánchez excelled against PSG last summer and has been Chelsea’s undisputed No 1 – until now, with the Spaniard’s recent wobbles convincing Rosenior that this was the moment to bring Jörgensen in for the biggest game of his career.
With Ousmane Dembélé fit to start with Bradley Barcola and Desire Doué, it was a stacked PSG attack facing Jörgensen. There was also, though, talk of an oddly vulnerable PSG team. Chelsea did their macho halfway line huddle and quickly dispensed with any notion of trying to keep it tight.
Both sides employed high-wire pressing systems. Jörgensen’s first offering was a shaky pass to Doué. Chelsea were open but passive defending received swift punishment.
Dembélé crossed, João Neves nodded down and Barcola had time to take a touch before lashing PSG into a 10th-minute lead.
It felt soft. PSG looked for more. Jörgensen pushed a Dembélé shot on to the woodwork and clawed another from Barcola away.
Yet it was an end-to-end game and Chelsea found space behind PSG. Pedro Neto could have equalised after scampering past Marquinhos. João Pedro headed at Matvei Safonov. There was a composure to Chelsea, Moisés Caicedo and Reece James competing in midfield, and the leveller was not a surprise.
It was a sleepy kind of goal, Fernández finding Gusto in an insulting amount of space on the right. It seemed to unfold in slow motion. No one had tracked Gusto’s run, so the right-back decided he might as well score with a shot that squirmed beneath Safonov’s weak attempt at a save.
Such poor goalkeeping posed the question of why PSG sold Gianluigi Donnarumma last summer. They are not as imposing. Chelsea dominated for long stretches and it was almost 2-1 when James crossed for Palmer, whose shot was saved by Safonov.
The ball was in the Chelsea net 14 seconds later. The surge was ferocious. Doué released Dembélé and the Frenchman should have passed it. Achraf Hakimi, the PSG left-back, had made a lung-busting run to his left. The pass was the option. Dembélé was greedy. He chopped back to fool Wesley Fofana and, just as his team-mates were preparing to scream at him, he silenced them by sliding a low shot past Jörgensen.
Caicedo and Trevoh Chalobah had been caught out in the buildup. Chelsea had to go again. However the game was more controlled at the second half. Chelsea were wary of playing such a high line and PSG looked to Vitinha to guide them through long spells of possession.
If anything it was too guarded from the French champions. On 58 minutes, Nuno Mendes tried a switch of play but left it short. Neto read the flight of the ball and, as if determined to make up for his red card against Arsenal, cantered beyond a creaking Marquinhos before centring for Fernández to fire past Safonov from 12 yards.*
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PSG readied a change, Kvaratshkelia replacing Doué. There was an inconsistency to the hosts, who followed outrageous pieces of skill with bemusing loose touches. The injured Fabian Ruiz was missed in midfield and there was a sense of PSG, whose energy levels have been hit by last summer’s exertions and the lack of a proper pre-season, tiring as the minutes ticked away.
Dembélé went off. The game was drifting until Jörgensen’s gift. Under no pressure, the Dane’s underhit ball out was intercepted by Barcola, Kvaratshkelia passed inside Vitinha and the Portugal midfielder lifted a beautiful lob over Jörgensen.
Chelsea tried to respond. But when Kvarateshkelia cut in from the left to unleash a stunning shot that flashed beyond Jorgensen, they were left with a mountain to climb.
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