The players emerged to packed stands on every side of Stamford Bridge. The Champions League music tingled. Flamethrowers lit up the sky. The night bristled with possibility for approximately five minutes.
Then PSG started playing and Chelsea crumbled. Mamadou Sarr blinked at a high ball like the dying sun before miscontrolling into the path of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who whipped a first-time finish beyond Robert Sanchez. The energy drained out of the stadium. There would be groans, ironic cheers, boos and expletives hurled into the night sky before the end of this damning 3-0 defeat.
