A consortium led by American billionaire Todd Boehly is set to complete its takeover of Chelsea FC from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich with an offer worth 4.25 billion euros.
The money received from the sale will be deposited in a frozen bank account known to the British government by the end of May, which will be used later to help the Ukrainian nation rebuild itself according to Abramovich.
The prospective new owners were in attendance at Stamford Bridge, where they witnessed a dull and painful first-half performance that saw Chelsea and Wolves go into the dressing room on levelled terms.
Wolves scored the last gasp 97th minute equaliser in the final seconds of the game to make it 2-2 and take a valuable point back to the Midlands, while continuing the Blues’ poor run of form which has seen them win only once in five games.
I do not think ownership is the reason for the lack of focus and… I think we are focused, and we showed during the situation when it began that we can still focus.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel rejected suggestions his team has been distracted by off-field matters which have contributed to the poor form in both the league and the Champions League.
Tuchel said, “I do not think ownership is the reason for the lack of focus and… I think we are focused, and we showed during the situation when it began that we can still focus.
“I would not consider this as an advantage for the match against Leeds, absolutely not. It does not change much for us because the sanctions are not lifted, and the season will anyway go on.
“We still hope for a positive outcome and for of course the situation [to be] solved, but at the moment it seems like it’s not, so it’s not worth thinking about.
“We have our own stuff to solve and things to do better because we struggle at the moment.”
Wolves had a couple of chances in the opening half with the best one falling to Wolves Leander Dendoncker who skied the ball into the stands after having a gaping goal to aim at.
Chelsea’s midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s goal in the 38th minute was cancelled for being offside after a lengthy VAR stop and Timo Werner’s goal was also chopped off for a shove in the back against Wolves’ defender Romain Saïss.
At the beginning of the second half, Chelsea had a change of personnel with midfielder Saúl Ñíguez coming on for defender Marcos Alonso and a change in formation that helped striker Romelu Lukaku score in the 56th minute from the penalty spot.
Lukaku scored again in the 58th minute taking his goal tally in the league to seven goals after a Wolves defender Conor Coady passed the ball to a Chelsea player, for which the home team accepted the gift with both hands.
Wolves Francisco Trincão scored a worldie in the 79th minute after coming on bringing the Midlands team back in the game and they turned up the tempo in the second half which put the Blues on the back foot.
Wolves’ coach Tony Roberts who was deputising for manager Bruno Lage who contracted COVID and had to self-isolate suggested Chelsea striker Lukaku dived to win a penalty for his first goal of the game.
Roberts said: “We are getting penalties for that now these days, I couldn’t believe it, it’s another one of them.
“When it goes to VAR you know it’s a pen but I do not think it was a penalty and that’s just my opinion.
“He’s a big lump isn’t he, but for him to go down, it obviously takes something but it didn’t look [like] nothing.”
Wolves captain Conor Coady scored in the 97th minute taking a single point against the European champions.
This draw sees Chelsea lose more points in their Champions League push, with Arsenal one point away from third place and five points off Tottenham who are in fifth place.
The London club will be playing against relegation-threatened Leeds United at Elland Road on May 12 while Wolves are battling title contenders in Manchester City at Molineux Stadium on the same day.
Main picture Optus screenshot.
