Chelsea announce themselves Champions League title contenders and smother Atletico Madrid with ease

A 2-0 win over Atletico Madrid saw Chelsea cruise to the last eight of the Champions League

LONDON -- Hakim Ziyech's first half goal must have landed with a familiar thud for Diego Simeone. How often had he seen his team do much the same: soak up pressure, draw their opponent up the pitch and then, in the blink of an eye, rifle to the other end of the pitch to punish their opponents. Chelsea had just meted out on Atletico Madrid what the Spaniards have been perfecting for nine years under their current manager. Thomas Tuchel seems to have built a decent approximation of that approach in a few months, albeit one that uses possession as a weapon, enough to take his side to a commanding 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge. It's a win that will serve as a shot across the bows to the other seven teams left in this contest. Eliminating a serial contender like Atleti in such comprehensive fashion ought to mark this team out as serious contenders. Whether defense does indeed win championships rather depends on the moment but what Chelsea showed tonight is that they are sufficiently robust at the back to not give away many goals to all but the very best attacks... and even they will have to work exceedingly hard for them. Couple that with a frontline that, in whatever form Tuchel deploys it, has the individual quality to punish even half mistakes and there is a team here that no-one will relish drawing in Friday's quarterfinal draw.