Rosenior slammed for decision that exposed two Chelsea stars

Liam Rosenior and Chelsea were handed a Champions League lesson by PSG (Picture: Getty) Liam Rosenior has been accused of hanging two Chelsea players out to dry after his Champions League gamble backfired against PSG. After their late capitulation last week, the Blues were already facing a near impossible task in overturning a three-goal first leg deficit against the reigning European champions. Despite the odds being stacked against them, Rosenior was keen to talk up his side’s chances of causing an upset prior to the game, but all that talk was rendered redundant inside the space of 16 calamitous first-half minutes. With Chelsea’s new-look defence all at sea, PSG twice profited and scored goals through Bradley Barcola and Senny Myulu that put the game and the tie to bed. Mamadou Sarr and Jorrel Hato, two young players asked to embrace roles they were unfamialiar with, looked particularly at sea and former Chelsea winger Pat Nevin struggled to comprehend the tactical plan employed by Rosenior. He said: ‘They took a massive, massive risk at the start of the game by going for a back three. ‘Man-to-man with two 20-year-old wide players playing as centre-backs, Mamadou Sarr against Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Jorrel Hato against Bradley Barcola. It just wasn’t fair on those young kids. Jorrel Hato endured a torrid evening against PSG (Picture: Getty) ‘It was bold, but it was also wrong. It just didn’t work at all. ‘PSG scored right from the start at the position. It was obviously where the danger will be and Kvaratskhelia put the [ball] away.’ After a 1-1 draw against Arsenal at Stamford Bridge in November, there was premature talk of Chelsea mounting a title challenge. Instead another season of chaos has transpired with Rosenior replacing Enzo Maresca at the helm in January but, after an initial run of good results, the rot appears to have set in. {"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Rosenior admits Chelsea 'must be perfect' to have any chance of upsetting Paris Saint-Germain","contentUrl":"https:\/\/videos.metro.co.uk\/video\/met\/2026\/03\/16\/1534678993327441697\/480x270_MP4_1534678993327441697.mp4","description":"Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior and forward Joao Pedro preview the Champions League last 16 second leg clash against Paris Saint-Germain, where they currently trail the 2025 champions 5-3.","duration":"T11M5S","height":270,"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2026\/03\/16\/19\/107185101-0-image-a-4_1773690500010.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-03-16T19:42:21+0000","width":480} To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Up Next Previous Page Next Page window.addEventListener('metroVideo:relatedVideosCarouselLoaded', function(data) { if (typeof(data.detail) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel) === 'undefined' || typeof(data.detail.carousel.el_) === 'undefined') { return; } var player = data.detail.carousel.el_; var container = player.closest('.metro-video-player'); var placeholder = container.querySelector('.metro-video-player__up-next-placeholder'); if (placeholder) { container.removeChild(placeholder); container.classList.add('metro-video-player--related-videos-loaded'); } }); Nevin added: ‘Chelsea got into some good positions, but the final third quality that PSG have compared to Chelsea is just not comparable. ‘8-2 over this two leg tie is not flattering, it just shows that Chelsea are that far off this standard of this side. ‘There was all this talk that Chelsea are World Champions, they beat PSG before but I wasn’t buying it. ‘I wasn’t buying it at the time, it’s partially a made up tournament, and this is much more realistic. Chelsea fans left here after 70 minutes, so there is a realism here which is quite problematic. ‘Chelsea are closer in points to regulation than they are to Arsenal. This is a team that has spent 1.5 billion pounds, and it’s been four years into the project, you have to start asking some questions.’