How the John Terry-Gary Cahill Mandwich and an Out-Swinging Corner Allowed PSG to Score

Though Chelsea’s round of 16 exit from the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain is being touted as evidence of England’s decline as a European football power, the truth is that the match came down to one single play—a corner taken by a 10-man PSG team in the final six minutes of extra time in which the Blues had a 2-1 lead.

Not all corners are equal of course, and often they are a lottery: Ball gets kicked from the corner flag, ball drops onto row of jumping humans, ball is headed one way or another. Sometimes it goes in the net, but usually it doesn’t.

Thiago Motta’s corner to Thiago Silva was no different perhaps, but it was the second outswinger which led to a PSG goal on the night (the first came from David Luiz in the 86th minute). It’s also worth noting that moments before Silva’s looping header past Thibaut Courtois, the Chelsea keeper was forced into a diving save from a header by the same player. Thiago Silva is a skilled footballer, and it’s clear he timed his jump perfectly with Motta’s corner.

Below is a breakdown of exactly what happened:

CHEPSG Image 1.jpg
Above we see a typical corner-kick set up. Chelsea are a professional outfit, so they haven’t done anything weird like put men on the posts. Nevertheless, David Luiz and Adrien Rabiot do a little switcheroo running routine to wreak havoc in the 18 yard box.