Not one of the ground you want to be to overcome a two goal deficit – infact, in the entire history of Real Madrid, only Ajax has ever eliminated Los Blancos from the Champions League after losing the first leg at home.
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In 2019 when Ajax achieved this feat, it was obvious the Dutch side have everything going their way on the night and not forgoing the fact that Real Madrid let complacent overshadow their will to progress into the last eight of the competition then.
Even so, Sergio Ramos took a needless booking in the first leg at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam just to miss the return leg in Madrid and cancel an impending suspension he could have in the quarters, however, he will probably regret that decision for the rest of his career.
Chelsea came close to equalling Ajax’s feat last night. Infact, they were agonizingly close to doing so but eventually lost out due to some rare classic moment from the host on the night.
Needing to at least score three to stand any chance of progression, Chelsea made a dream start at the Bernabéu and scored the first goal of the encounter to half the deficit on aggregate and were very demanding of their host, dominating the entirety of the first half even after Mason Mount fired them ahead in the 15th minute.
Real Madrid just have no response to the questions being asked of them by the visitors and were pinned in their own half as Chelsea continued to dictate the tempo and creating the better chances.
It was so poor for Real Madrid in that first half that they had no shot on target with Chelsea also winning most of the duels and getting to the second balls first, winning 50-50 balls and creating the better chances.
Captaining the visitors on the night, N’Golo Kanté, who managed just 21 touches in the first leg made more than double, 43 in the first half at the Bernabéu, while seven of Chelsea’s starters in the first half completed at least 90 percentage of their passes. It was all going the way of Thomas Tuchel side even though they still trailed on aggregate.
The visitors continued to control the contest and just six minutes after the restart, their lead was doubled as Antonio Rüdiger rose high to head home a corner from Mason Mount and restore parity for the defending Champions on aggregate.
Two minutes after the hour mark, they thought Marcos Alonso had put them ahead on aggregate for the first time in the tie but the Spanish defender had his beautiful individual goal ruled out as he had handled the ball before fizzling it into the net.
Not to be denied for long as they were so much all over Real Madrid, who at that moment might have been wishing for the final whistle to come and put an end to their nightmare, Chelsea took the lead on aggregate with a beautiful effort from Timo Werner in the 75th minute.
Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
The German forward received the ball from Matteo Kovavic but still had so much to do. He holds his composure to beat the sliding tackles of Dani Carvajal and David Alaba before unleashing a shot, which deflected off another defender to beat Thibaut Courtois for the third time on the night.
Real Madrid look lost and Chelsea continue to dictate play but a well weighted pass from Luka Modric caught out the Chelsea defence and Rodrygo Goes took it in his stride to restore parity on aggregate with Madrid’s first goal of the night.
The contest head to extra time and cometh the man cometh the hour, Karim Benzema, who bagged a hat-trick in London scored the goal that made the difference on aggregate six minutes into the first half of extra time as Madrid seal progression into the final four.
Chelsea lost 5-4 on aggregate but there was no denying they were the better side over the two legs even having a combined 48 shots compared to Real Madrid’s 18. How much a different story will it have been had Karim Benzema not play in the two legs. Chelsea will continue to wonder.
Karim Benzema was super effective over two legs against Chelsea. Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
The French striker scored four goals over the two legs, that is just one shy of the entire amount Thomas Tuchel side had conceded in the competition before facing Real Madrid in the quarter finals.
Moreso, Real became the first side to score multiple goals in a game against Édouard Mendy in the Champions League since he moved to Chelsea, they did it in both legs of their meeting and that was thanks to Karim Benzema. Safe to say he was responsible for Chelsea’s elimination.
The defeat in London made many thought Chelsea had no much fight in them against the record Champions but the weekend’s 6-0 win in the league against Southampton had them dreaming for the almost impossible. And they were so close to bringing that dream to life.
Champions League elimination is a disappointment but Chelsea exit the competition with their heads high, not many teams can put in so much against Real Madrid after losing the first leg at home by a difference of two goals but they showed the crowd at the Bernabéu that they are worthy defending Champions of the competition.
Even though Thomas Tuchel said in his post match interview that his side never stood a chance after the 3-1 loss at the Stamford Bridge, it was there to see that they almost achieve what would have been a famous comeback but unfortunately, they come short even after taking the pole position.
And for Real Madrid, they will see this match or rather this tie as a far superior threat than they came up against in the round of 16 when they come from behind to beat PSG.
Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
