Chelsea vs Real Madrid LIVE: Result and reaction from Champions League quarter-final as Blues crash out
Chelsea 0-2 Real Madrid (0-4 agg): The Blues failed to overturn a two-goal deficit against the current European champions
Real Madrid breezed past Chelsea into the semi-finals of the Champions League with Rodrygo’s double securing a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge for a 4-0 aggregate victory that sets up a likely mouth-watering clash with Manchester City.
Trailing 2-0 from last week’s clash in the Bernabeu, Chelsea had their moments but failed to take their chances in the opening half and at the start of the second and were made to pay as Rodrygo sent the silky Spaniards through.
He opened the scoring in the 58th minute and tapped in again in the 80th to spark a mass exodus of Chelsea fans.
N’Golo Kante had twice come close to cutting the deficit and Real’s former Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois made a crucial save just before half-time to frustrate his old club. And when Rodrygo finished off a sweeping counter-attack there was no way back for the London club who have lost all four games since Frank Lampard returned as interim manager.
Relive all the action as Chelsea lose to Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final second leg:
Chelsea 0-0 Real Madrid (0-2 agg)
8 mins: The first sign of space for Vinicius Jr comes from Eder Militao’s cross field pass. Vinicius hugs the touchline and sprints forward as the ball drops before cutting inside of Reece James and lifting a cross over to the back post.
Karim Benzema is the target but the ball sails over his head and skips behind for a goal kick.
Chelsea 0-0 Real Madrid (0-2 agg)
6 mins: Reece James had a tough night at the Bernabeu up against Vinicius Junior. So far tonight, he’s sticking closer to the Real winger and is getting able cover from Wesley Fofana to stop his runs down the left wing.
Camavinga nips inside with the ball and is brought down in the middle of the pitch by N’Golo Kante.
Chelsea 0-0 Real Madrid (0-2 agg)
3 mins: A testing pass back from Eduardo Camavinga almost sees Kai Havertz nick the ball but it rolls past his outstretched leg and David Alaba switches the play quickly to calm things down again for the visitors.
Real Madrid have seen most of the ball in these opening minutes.
Kick off: Chelsea 0-0 Real Madrid (0-2 agg)
Conor Gallagher gets the ball rolling at Stamford Bridge and knocks it back to Thiago Silva. He floats a diagonal ball over to the left wing where Marc Cucurella pushes high and nods the ball out of play when trying to control it.
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
The players step out of the tunnel at Stamford Bridge and walk onto the pitch.
This is a massive night for Chelsea, if they overturn this two-goal deficit they could go on to win the Champions League. Fail to do so and they’re consigned to one of their worst seasons in almost two decades.
Kick off is next...
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
The warm-ups are all done and dusted. The teams will be heading onto the pitch in a couple of minutes time. Nerves will be flying and there’s a hum of anticipation inside the stadium.
The Champions League desperately needs an injection of chaos
For all their contrasting histories in the Champions League, Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel have this week found themselves in similar positions. They have both had to try and make their squads believe they can overcome almost overwhelming situations.
Chelsea are 2-0 down to Real Madrid and Bayern Munich 3-0 down to Manchester City, but the two managers are trying to get their players to overlook these bare facts. Tuchel has been telling his players that, in general play, they were as good as City and it was only individual moments that cost them. The stirring talk is that, consequently, they can just as easily score three.
Lampard has meanwhile been drawing on 2012 again, and how his Chelsea team were also two goals down to Napoli before the most famous comeback in the club’s history.
The Champions League desperately needs an injection of chaos
In recent years the Champions League has become characterised by a series of historically improbably comebacks - the competition needs some now as the quarter-final second-legs get underway
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
Thibaut Courtois never faced Real Madrid when he was a Chelsea player but since moving to Spain he has come up against his old side five times so far.
Tonight, on his sixth appearance against the Blues he’ll look to add to the three wins and a draw he has in games with them so far.
Pre-match thoughts from Frank Lampard
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard spoke to BT Sport before tonight’s second leg against Real Madrid.
“When I look at us at the moment, firstly you have to respect the opponent and level of game. You have to pick players who are in good shape and in good nick.
“With the wing-backs, shaping up like we were last week, that was part of the game we didn’t use enough. We have the legs and energy in there.
“It’s a reality of where we are. We know we want more goals as a team. You can’t wave a magic wand and just tell players to start scoring more goals.
“We have to stay in the game, keep a clean sheet, then we have impact players coming off the bench. I said to the players before, it’ll probably be a player or players coming off the bench who make the difference.”
Chelsea vs Real Madrid
This evening’s match marks Toni Kroos’ 150th game in all European competitions.
During that time he has won the Champions League with two separate clubs - four times at Real Madrid and once at Bayern Munich.
Perhaps most famously Kroos was a part of the Real Madrid side that lifted the trophy in three consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments