Real Madrid glimpsed the semifinals of the Champions League after displaying the current champion’s stripes in a triumph full of authority, with goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio, against a weak-minded Chelsea, who forgave at the start and received a punishment that could have been greater when playing the final half hour with ten due to the expulsion of Chillwell.
Dressed as a European champion, of a dominating club like no other in the competition, Real Madrid squarely assumed favoritism against a Chelsea that is going from rebuilding to self-destruction. Once again, Ancelotti’s team demonstrated its link with the ‘Champions’. A group of players that transforms. Intense, direct, lethal. Non-rival.
An image unleashed after an initial scare that put a stop to the madridista outing. Minute 2 had not yet been completed when Joao Félix lacked a goal-scoring fang in one of those oversights that tend to be expensive on big nights. Bad withdrawal after loss and error in the line of the last player, in the rival field, allowed the Portuguese to run with time to think about how to finish the play. Unable to overcome Courtois with his low shot that the Belgian took with his feet.
It was a night that measured Joao. He flew from Atlético de Madrid looking for the happiness that he could not find with Simeone and his present leaves more shadows than lights. Without reaching what he promised in his irruption into the elite. He was the opposite of Vinícius, in an infinite growth that once again proved to be one of the most unbalancing footballers on the planet. After five minutes he had already taken the yellow card from Fofana.
The line of five that Lampard resurrected to cover spaces, would not prevent ‘Vini’ from always unbalancing in speed. The decision to bet on Thiago Silva after a period of inactivity surprised. Even more the substitution of Havertz. The interim Chelsea coach wanted to defend well and run against a Real Madrid upended. The plan was about to succeed but Joao forgave and the incombustible Kanté was slow to decide in the second.
Chelsea’s doubts were born from the high pressure of Real Madrid. With losses against the powerful physique of Fede Valverde and a physical resurrection of Carvajal. With the ball, speed and precision disarmed Chelsea’s crowded defense on one of those nights in which Benzema is inspired from the start. He tested Kepa on the first attempt, heeled, with hardly any space but as a warning after connecting with Vinícius.
Carlo Ancelotti, in his claim as a coach over manager, repeated the team that thrashed at the Camp Nou. He went for the match and for the tie, aware that the comebacks at the Santiago Bernabéu will not be the seal on the road to the ‘Fifteenth’. In a different scenario, with the home game, he looked for the insecurity of a rival lacking in confidence.
Installed in the opposite field, stealing continuously, Carvajal scored the first goal. His center with poison finished it off by stretching Vinícius’s left leg so that Kepa saved the goal below but he could do nothing against Benzema. The Frenchman extended his idyll with pleasure with the goal against Chelsea. He marked him whenever he faced
With the first objective achieved, with the forcefulness that the rival did not have, the usual save appeared on Courtois’ Champions League nights. A nonsense seconds after the goal when behind Camavinga’s back James appeared and his cross was finished off by Sterling in the face of Alaba’s mistake and Militao’s late reaction. Below, glued to the post, a saving hand appeared from the hero of the last final.
Lampard had to make a decision. Go for the match or protect yourself. The spaces were a gift for Vinícius, who caressed the second after stepping on it in the race to dribble past Fofana and chip the ball as Kepa left, running into Thiago Silva on the goal line. The continuous search for the goal and the good offensive movements, at times lacked finesse in Rodrygo’s final moment.
The risks in the withdrawal of playing without a pure midfielder, with Kroos in command, disappeared with incontestable dominance. Kepa responded to shots from Benzema, Alaba’s combed ball and Valverde’s attempt. There would no longer be room for Chelsea’s reaction, which dwindled until it was devoured.
Saved from the start by Koulibaly’s speed against Rodrygo, in an action that cost him a muscle injury. Sighing with relief at the shot that Modric’s squad caressed after, of course, a race against rivals with up to three changes of pace from an incombustible Vinícius. And devastated since Valverde chipped the ball at the speed of Rodrygo, knocked down when he went straight to the goal by Chilwell in a clear direct red.
There was half an hour ahead that Real Madrid could not miss. Ancelotti moved chips, took Marco Asensio out onto the field and found the prize. The blow to the tie came thanks to that left foot that is a weapon of great value in the distance shot. From a corner kick with a lack of intensity in the defense, ‘Vini’s’ pass behind was born and the goal that puts the pass to the semifinals on track if there is not a debacle at Stamford Bridge.