Lots of Chelsea fans have sympathised with midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who was the standout performer in the 3-0 first leg defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16.
The Blues were competent in the opening half where they managed to carve a couple of opportunities in the final third but the second period was a different story with the Bavarians dominating the proceedings.
Bayern scored the goals during the course of the second half and the Blues ended the game with 10 men after Marcos Alonso was sent off for violent conduct after a VAR check.
The Blues now face a daunting task of progressing to the next stage of the competition and they would surely require a miraculous performance at the Allianz Arena.
Irrespective of this, some Chelsea FC fans have lauded the showing of Kovacic, who was the standout performer with five tackles, two interceptions and eight take-ons on the night, as per whoscored. Here are some of the reactions on Twitter below….
Kovacic is the only player who held his own. I swear he’s so much better than everyone else in this team man.
— َ (@HakimZ10i)
This game just showed the levels between Chelsea and a top European club.
Every single player bar Kovačić & Christensen were not good enough and games like this happen when you aren’t good enough. Embarrassing.
— FutbolChelsea (@FutbolCheIsea)
Fair to say the only Chelsea player tonight at the same level as Bayern is Kovačić.
The Blues performance doesn’t reflect badly on Lampard or his players… it’s a measure of how much work needs to be done to get the squad back to a level where it can compete with Europe’s elite
— Mark Worrall (@gate17marco)
Mateo Kovačić signing was an absolutely steal, spend wisely in the summer and build up a strong team to help him
We are so lucky to have Mateo Kovačić playing for us, class player .#CHEBAY
— 𝔽𝕝𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕠 𝕏𝕒𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕣 (@Fxds13)
Kovacic my MOTM. He’s the only one that played at the same level as the Bayern players today #cfc #chelsea
— Chloe Pearce (@TheBlueLioness)
Massive, massive shoutout to Kovacic tonight. One of the few players for Chelsea who looked like he belonged in such a big game
Doesn’t matter who the team is, Kovacic normally plays extremely well. Feel for him..
— Conn (@ConnCFC)
Frank Lampard’s side need to erase the outcome on the Tuesday night game from their memory, considering they have a key Premier League clash against Bournemouth on the road this weekend.