Real Madrid show Chelsea how it’s done: the expectation after a tie of such grandeur is that the lesson to be learned is how to regularly navigate the Champions League knock-out stages, but we’re actually talking about something as rudimentary as scoring. Real Madrid literally walked the ball into the net, as they eventually strolled into the semi-final.
It would maybe be a little harsh to say that of this entire second leg, given how intensive Chelsea were for large parts, but there was always that sense the European champions could just lift it. That’s because Chelsea went another game without scoring, as they lost 2-0 to make it 4-0 on aggregate. That also made it four defeats in a row, Lampard concluding the club’s worst run of results since 1993. That alone illustrates the challenge is certainly going to be raised for Madrid in a likely semi-final against Manchester City.
At the very least, Todd Boehly couldn’t be embarrassed by this display. Frank Lampard restored a bit of pride to the early attempts. You might even say the owner’s ad hoc team talk had some effect, at least in the early stages. Such a sentence is one of a few baffling things about Chelsea right now, not least where they are going next. The season is over. Then there was how they started.
For a manager who has occasionally been criticised for rudimentary tactics, you might at least say Lampard offered some counterintuitive thinking. Few would certainly have come up with the solution he offered to this problem. A Chelsea team that can’t score but needed two goals against Real Madrid started with three centre-halves, two wing-backs, four central midfielders and no actual forwards. There were two notional No 10s, sure, but they were a runner in Conor Gallagher and one of the game’s best ball-winners in N’Golo Kante.
So it was that when they did creditably force a few openings, the best fell to the French midfielder. Finishing has never been among his many supreme qualities, though. He bounced one off the ground in the first half and then snatched at another in the second. It was the latter of those that was the best opportunity, and it was difficult not to think the ball would have been in the net had it fallen to almost any other player.
It was just, given his position, the ball was falling to Kante a lot. Again, he is one of the modern game’s great players. He just isn’t one of the great creators. Chelsea had no such quality on the pitch.
So, without any proper playmakers, they were going for a lot of crosses, but that was to no proper target man. There were so many headers that were just bouncing around the area. In one good move they did offer, Enzo Fernandez played a low ball across the box but – rather than anyone like Mykhailo Mudryk or Raheem Sterling – it fell to Marc Cucurella. He took far too much time to control it and allowed Thibaut Courtois to get across.
That promised more but it was still ultimately like Chelsea were dependent on hassling Madrid into errors they were only rarely going to make. This is the club that are more comfortable in this competition than anyone else, after all. Luka Modric was just strolling about, even in Chelsea’s most intense periods.
There is one thing that could be said for Chelsea. Amid a run that had already seen Lampard lose all of his first three games back as well as any emotional uplift that came with his return, the former midfielder did restore some real energy to the side. Some of that was surely down to the fixture, of course. As Lampard himself would no doubt say, if you can’t get up for a Champions League knock-out match against Real Madrid, what can you get up for? Chelsea at least went beyond that and there were periods where there was potential for a proper game to happen. There were moments when the crowd could believe, which is probably all they would have wanted out of the occasion.
There was always the sense, though, that Madrid could just lift it as and when they needed. That’s what they did at Liverpool. That’s what they did here.
After one of Chelsea’s better flurries, and shortly after Kante missed his best chance of all, Madrid then just made it worse. They made it look easy.
Rodrygo surged up the pitch in one of those searing runs, the ball eventually being worked over to Madrid’s other flying arrow on the other side. Vinicius Junior instantly displayed the composure in the box that was lacking from Chelsea’s display, taking a touch that created even more space, disoriented Kepa Arrizabalaga and set up Rodrygo for the easiest of chances.
At least, the easiest until the 80th minute, when Federico Valverde gave him an opportunity almost on the line. The Uruguayan displayed brilliant footwork to weave into the box and out of some attempted Chelsea challenges, playing the ball across for Rodrygo to walk the ball in.
It almost felt like an extra insult to Chelsea, with how easy it was for Madrid. That’s how they feel in this competition. For Lampard and Chelsea, it’s a struggle to just score, making the entire job so much tougher.
Madrid will have it much harder in the next round. Chelsea need a hard think about what is next.
