Chelsea have it all to do in their Champions League quarter-final tie against Real Madrid after a 2-0 first-leg defeat at the Santiago Bernabeu, but at least did not crumble in the face of more adversity.
A goal in each half from Karim Benzema and substitute Marco Asensio delivered a second successive defeat for returning Blues interim boss Frank Lampard, who saw Ben Chilwell sent off for a last-man foul on Rodrygo shortly before the hour mark on Wednesday night.
Another goalless display leaves Chelsea with a real uphill battle in next Tuesday’s return fixture at Stamford Bridge, though Lampard may well be pleased that his side did not completely fall apart away against the holders with 10 men despite being firmly second best throughout the contest.
Real will be considered massive favourites to advance as they seek a 15th European title overall and sixth in the last 10 seasons, though will likely be frustrated not to be out of sight already despite a comfortable win in which they laboured at times despite their dominance.
Lampard showed three changes to his first game back in interim charge, another abject defeat at Wolves, with Thiago Silva deemed fit to start after six weeks out through injury and N’Golo Kante also returning along with Chilwell.
Chelsea switched to a 3-5-2 system and had some early joy on the counter-attack as Joao Felix forced a low save from Thibaut Courtois and Kante caused Luka Modric real issues in the middle of the park.
Modric was one of several of Madrid’s big hitters to return to Carlo Ancelotti’s starting XI after being rested for a shock 3-2 home defeat by Villarreal on Saturday that left them 12 points behind fierce rivals Barcelona in the LaLiga title race with only 10 matches left to play this term.
Wesley Fofana and Eduardo Camavinga both picked up early bookings, with the former struggling badly with the pace and trickery of the in-form Vinicius Jr.
Madrid quickly took control and Kepa Arrizabalaga was made to work hard by Benzema, Vinicius and Rodrygo, with the Ballon d’Or winner breaking the deadlock after 21 minutes.
The Frenchman is capable of such breathtaking brilliance on his day but a 90th Champions League goal to take him only one behind third-placed Robert Lewandowski on the all-time scorers list was a simple tap into an empty net from close range after Kepa had initially saved Vinicius’ effort from a clever Dani Carvajal cross.
Benzema’s 26th goal of the season across all competitions was his 20th in his last 26 games against English opposition in the Champions League.
Chelsea almost equalised immediately as Enzo Fernandez’s low cross for Raheem Sterling was inadvertently deflected on target by Eder Militao, only for Courtois to make a brilliant stop.
Bar one or two brief forays forward on the break, Chelsea then spent the remainder of the first half really clinging on, with Kepa having to stay sharp with a series of comfortable saves.
Disaster struck for Chelsea - who also lost Kalidou Koulibaly to a suspected hamstring injury - just short of the hour mark, with Chilwell deservedly receiving his marching orders from French referee Francois Letexier for pulling back Rodrygo as the last man on the edge of the box after the Brazilian had run off substitute Marc Cucurella far too easily to collect Federico Valverde’s scooped pass.
Ancelotti sent on Marco Asensio and the super-sub made an impact after only three minutes, sweeping through the legs of Fofana and under the unlucky Kepa after being teed up by a simple Vinicius pass.
Benzema could have killed off the last-eight tie with a header over the crossbar in second-half stoppage time, while Antonio Rudiger produced a superb block to deny former Chelsea team-mate Mason Mount a potentially massive last-gasp goal.
