Having down big in Spanish La Liga and out of a spot in European club football at the moment respectively, both Real Madrid and Chelsea have different aspirations in the remainder of this season’s UEFA Champions League. That being said, their aim remains winning it all in the competition, which makes this clash between the 14-time champion and 2-time winner among the most intriguing one in the quarterfinal, with the other being Manchester City against Bayern Munich.
The first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu saw Los Blancos show their dominance in Europe once again, beating Chelsea with a comfortable 2-0 score line.
Benzema Striked Again in the Knockout Stage
Chelsea’s interim manager Frank Lampard lost his first game in charge is his second managerial debut with the Blues. The former England international made three changes to his starting line-up that was defeated by Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. On the other hand, Carlo Ancelotti, whose Real Madrid squad lost to Villarreal in the league in its previous game, altered the team with six replacements, with former Chelsea man Antonio Rüdiger starting the match on the bench.
The breakthrough came just 21 minutes after the first whistle was blown, when Dani Carvajal found Vinícius Júnior via an accurate long ball in the penalty box. The Brazilian flicked the ball towards Kepa Arrizabalaga and the latter could not parry it far away, allowing the ball to fall before Karim Benzema to score. The goal was the Real Madrid skipper’s 14 in his nine previous UEFA Champions League Knockout Stage matches, displaying his clutch abilities when it matters the most for his team during this round of the competition.
Chelsea tried to rally back into the game but its hopes soon faded away just before the hour mark, after left-back Ben Chilwell was shown a straight red. Rodrygo was unleashed by Federico Valverde with a beautiful pass, forcing the 26-year-old England player to commit a last-man foul on the Brazilian winger. The red card was Chilwell’s first in his playing career, since making his senior debut back in 2015. The visitors were lucky not to concede a penalty as the foul was inflicted before the box.
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Another Defeat for Lampard
With a man up, the home side raced to double its lead in the remaining minutes of the match. The effort finally resulted in another goal, when a short corner was played in the 74th minute. The set-piece caught Chelsea players off guard, after Vinícius Júnior squared a pass to allow substitute Marco Asensio to place a shot into the bottom left corner. The goal brushed off any chances for Chelsea to come back in the first leg of this fixture and allowed Real Madrid to take a resounding 2-0 lead into the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
The loss is the second consecutive one for Lampard, who begun his second tenure as the Chelsea head coach last week. Nevertheless, the former midfielder remained optimistic about his team’s chances of progressing to the next round. “I’m proud of the 10 men. I think with 10 men, they carved us open. There are some good things, but the result is the reality. I just said to the players [in the dressing room], special things can happen at Stamford Bridge. They’re a very good team, but we have to believe. I’ve been involved in those nights at Stamford Bridge. That’s next week now, and I’m disappointed with the result, [but] we keep going”, he said.
His former manager and now Real head coach Ancelotti, on the other hand, warned his men to not take their foot off the pedal and remained focused on the mission to defend their title. The Italian’s response read “I know football really well and my players understand that we have another 90 minutes to play, and it will be difficult, and we have to be ready. We won 2-0, we took advantage of this game, but it’s not done yet. Chelsea is a good team with good players, and we have to fight and sacrifice at Stamford Bridge. This is absolutely normal – it’s a quarter-final of the Champions League. We are satisfied with the game, it was a good game, and now we focus on the next”.
