How Real Madrid stopped tactically-superior Chelsea

The UEFA Champions League almost never fails to disappoint. An exhilarating game in the Spanish capital between Chelsea and Real Madrid was the perfect advert for the magic and quality of the competition.

Real came into the second leg with a two-goal advantage from the previous leg, which finished 3-1 in favour of the Los Blancos.

Madrid’s captain, Karim Benzema, scored a hat-trick in the first leg and is having one of the best seasons of his career in terms of goals scored, 36.

Chelsea had a mountain to climb to overcome this two-goal deficit but after thrashing Southampton 6-0 just a few days ago in the Premier League, confidence and belief was sky-high in their camp.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel superbly set up his team tactically and psychologically which led to the Men-in-Blue almost pulling off one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the competition.

Real Madrid’s threat usually comes down the left flank due to their supremely talented winger, Vinicious Jr, and the chemistry he has developed with arguably the most in-form striker of the season, Benzema.

Tuchel managed to stifle the threat from the left side by utilising the services of Reece James and Ruben-Loftus Cheek, both players who have the attributes of pace and power to counter the threat of Vinicious Jr.

The Spanish giants possess one of the most experienced and decorated midfield players in the world football in Luka Modric, Casimero and Toni Kroos.

This midfield trio have won the Champions League three times in a row under the tutelage of Zinedine Zidane and is one of the key reasons why they are current leaders of the Spanish La Liga.

To counter their dominance, Tuchel brilliantly coached players like Ruben-Loftus Cheek and Mason Mount to pick up positions in the half-spaces (between Real Madrid’s midfield and defensive line), which lead to Chelsea outnumbering their three midfielders.

The numerical superiority of Chelsea (4 vs. 3) allowed them to establish more control in the game and dominate possession.

Chelsea broke the deadlock in the 15th minute through Mason Mount’s fantastic finish after clever link-up play on the edge of the Real Madrid box.

In the second half, the expectation, especially from the home fans, was that they would regain control of the game and begin to ask questions from the Chelsea defence. However, the same pattern of play continued with Chelsea continuously knocking on the door and eventually scoring a second goal courtesy of Antionio Rudigers’ header from a set-piece.

With the scores now level on aggregate (3-3), it felt like it was written in the stars that Chelsea would score another goal and pull off an epic comeback.

The in-form Timo Werner danced around the Real Madrid defenders and managed to get a shot away which trickled into the bottom right corner of the net in the 75th minute. Chelsea were now 15 minutes away from progressing to the semi-finals and simply needed to continue doing what they were doing while making sure they didn’t concede a goal.

Real Madrid have won this prestigious competition 13 times and have developed a know-how and an aura of finding a way to win football matches, especially when they aren’t playing particularly well.

Some call it experience, others call it destiny, but what the world witnessed in the 80th minute was pure magic.

Luka Modric, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner, executed a pass that took football fans to a place they never imagined they could go. A beautiful and unstoppable pass with the outside of his right foot perfectly found the substitute Rodrygo who guided the ball past the Chelsea goalkeeper to make it 4-4 on aggregate.

The imagination and magic of Luka Modric instantly turned the momentum in Real Madrid’s favour. With the score now levelled, the home crowd began to breathe life back into their team with their support.

With the scores level, the game would now be decided in extra time or penalties. Despite Tuchel and his players tactically out-manoeuvring the opposition, Real Madrid produced moments of brilliance and made shrewd substitutions that enabled them to claw themselves back into the tie.

In extra time, a lapse of concentration and indecisiveness by the Chelsea backline led to Vinicious Jr capitalising on an opportunity to gallop into the Chelsea box and pick out a clever cross for his partner in crime, Benzema, who expertly headed the ball into the back of the net. Now, the aggregate score was 5-4.

Chelsea continued to press for another goal but could not convert chances that fell to Pulusic and Jorginho.

The hopes and dreams of a remarkable comeback were not meant to be and Real Madrid will now face last year’s runners-up of the competition, Manchester City, in the semi-final’s first leg on April 27.

This achievement makes Carlo Ancelotti the first manager to reach the Champions League semi-finals in four different decades.

Chelsea will continue to fight for silverware in the FA cup and will look to secure third place in the English Premier League.

As for Real Madrid, their attention would have already been shifted towards preparing for their next assignment of overcoming Manchester City, who are arguably the best team in Europe right now.