Chelsea advance to semi-finals

• Chelsea are the first club through to the UEFA Youth League semi-finals
• Fran Manzanara's own goal opens the scoring on 38 minutes
• Bradley Collins saves well from Amath Diedhiou on 67 minutes
• Dominic Solanke adds Chelsea's second late on
• Chelsea play Roma or Manchester City in Nyon on 10 April; final three days later

Chelsea FC are the first side through to the UEFA Youth League semi-finals after defeating Club Atlético de Madrid 2-0 at their training centre in Cobham.

After falling in the quarter-finals last season, Chelsea made no mistake this time, controlling much of the game and booking their place in the final tournament thanks to a Fran Manzanara own goal and a late Dominic Solanke strike.

With senior captain and academy graduate John Terry looking on, Chelsea were good value for their lead in a first half of few chances. Víctor Mendiondo blocked well as Tammy Abraham tried to get on the end of Ola Aina's cross from the right, while on the left some of Chelsea's best attacking play was coming through skipper Izzy Brown.

Chelsea went ahead in the 38th minute. With right-back Mendiondo off the pitch receiving treatment, Brown found room on the left of the area. He chipped a ball goalwards over keeper Carlos Marín and the unfortunate Manzanara bundled it in under pressure from Andreas Christensen.

Atleti served warning that the tie was far from over in the 67th minute when Amath Diedhiou rifled a shot at goal that Bradley Collins brilliantly kept out. That attempt sparked a spell of pressure from the Spanish side, but Chelsea held firm before making sure of victory when Solanke fired in his competition-leading ninth goal on 89 minutes.

Reaction
Adi Viveash, Chelsea coach
It was a very tough game, a very competitive encounter separated by two moments of quality, Brown in the first half and then Solanke, two big players for us produced at the right moments. In between it was a real battle and I thought we really competed physically. We're giving away a couple of years in most positions to Atlético but our young players came of age a bit today. It's a great result for the academy, one stage further than last year and hopefully we can go on.

You have got to be in it to win it, it's a simple saying. We're the first team into the semis so we've got an opportunity. We obviously have to see out of Man. City and Roma who comes through that section and then you can only deal with the game in front of you. We have to look at who we face, we'll do our homework, hopefully all our players are fit when it comes around. We will certainly be giving it everything we've got – we're in the semi-final to try to get into that showcase final.

Armando De La Morena, Atlético coach
It was a great match between two big teams and it was a shame that the first goal came when one of our players was injured. We competed really, really well throughout the whole match. We had bad luck, but the team did a really good job. It is an incredible competition, particularly for the experience it has given the players and staff.