The good news for Chelsea, and there wasn’t much at the Bernabéu on Wednesday night, is that it only lost 2–0. The Champions League quarterfinal is still, just about, alive, and it probably shouldn’t be. Real Madrid was so dominant, had so many chances, that it could have not only ended the tie but really embarrass Chelsea. Perhaps Carlo Ancelotti was showing pity to his former player, Frank Lampard, who has now lost 10 of his last 11 games as a manager.
Chelsea would have been an underdog, anyway, but it has to be asked what exactly Todd Boehly expected when he appointed Lampard as interim manager. Lampard had managed one Champions League knockout tie before, a 7–1 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich. What reasonable expectation was there that he would be able to set the side up better than Graham Potter, whose one Champions League knockout tie had resulted in a 2–1 aggregate victory? Where Chelsea struggled under Potter was in chance conversion; there was far more reason to believe he could set up a team to contain the European champion than there was to have faith in Lampard, whose defensive capacities as a coach have always been questioned.
IMAGO/Lagencia
