Dinamo Zagreb claimed a shock victory over Chelsea in its Champions League group stage opener on Tuesday as it beat the 2021 European champion 1-0 at home thanks to a blistering solo run from Croatian forward Mislav Orsic.
Zagreb had conceded in every league game this season but Ante Cacic’s team kept a clean sheet against the Premier League side, which topped Europe’s transfer spending charts with an outlay of over 250 million pounds ($299.62 million) this summer.
Chelsea has now lost three of its last five matches in all competitions and Thomas Tuchel was seen fuming on the touchline as his 100th match in charge of the London club ended in defeat.
Zagreb opened the scoring against the run of play when Orsic was sent through on goal on a solo counter-attack, outrunning Chelsea's new recruit Wesley Fofana and beating goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga with a delicate touch.
Chelsea had created scoring opportunities in the opening stages but was deflated by the goal and Thomas Tuchel's side looked short of ideas in front of a resolute Zagreb defence.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang made his debut alongside Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz in the front line but they failed to click while Arrizabalaga was called into action twice to deny Zagreb, the second an acrobatic save to parry a shot from distance.
Chelsea did not threaten in the box until Tuchel made all five substitutions but Zagreb held firm. Goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic also made a crucial reflex save from a stinging Mason Mount shot late in the game.
Tuchel slams Chelsea’s lack of hunger
Tuchel lambasted his squad for showing no hunger or determination in its defeat at Zagreb, saying he did not see this performance coming after he thought Chelsea had turned a corner.
An angry Tuchel also blamed himself but said it was not the performance he expected after Chelsea narrowly beat West Ham United over the weekend.
“I didn’t see it coming, obviously I was in the wrong movie,” Tuchel told reporters. “I thought that the last game helped us... I thought the team was prepared, I thought we know what this is all about.
“I don’t really know where this performance today comes from. A lack of determination, a lack of hunger and a lack of intensity to actually do the things that we need at the highest level. We are clearly not where we want to be.
“I’m angry about our performance... It’s not precise enough, it’s not clinical enough, it’s not aggressive enough on the ball, it’s not determined enough. It’s not good enough individually, it’s not good enough as a team.”
Tuchel said Chelsea did not underestimate Zagreb but added that Chelsea losing focus has been the “story of the last few games” where it starts well before conceding goals.
“We start okay for 15 to 20 minutes but then lacked determination, precision and maybe even lacked the smell of blood,” Tuchel added.
“We conceded a goal with two players in a counter-attack --never happened before. I don’t understand why it happened today. It’s clearly my job to analyse it.
“We need to be much better... We are not happy with our results, we are not happy with the way we play in general, but I thought we were on a good way. I’m a bit surprised by this performance today.”
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