{"id":31145,"date":"2023-04-13T07:49:28","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T07:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=31145"},"modified":"2023-04-13T07:49:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T07:49:31","slug":"champions-league-real-madrid-beats-chelsea-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2023\/04\/13\/champions-league-real-madrid-beats-chelsea-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Champions League: Real Madrid beats Chelsea 2-0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Todd Boehly\u2019s belief didn\u2019t last long. Stopped outside the restaurant where both clubs\u2019 directors had lunch before this Champions League quarter-final first leg, Chelsea\u2019s owner had told fans: \u201cHave faith, we\u2019re going to win 3-0 tonight.\u201d A prisoner of his words as well as his deeds, within 20 minutes he had already been proven wrong, Karim Benzema\u2019s goal giving Real Madrid the lead; by the time the clock reached 90, it wasn\u2019t just the game that had escaped them, it might have been the tie, Marco Asensio\u2019s second a step towards the semi-final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, that was not a surprise. In fact, although Chelsea had a big chance three minutes into injury time, Antonio R\u00fcdiger diving in to deny Mason Mount, they might still be relieved that the deficit is only two \u2013 something, however small, to grasp going into the second leg, some tiny glimmer of hope not really born out by what was seen here. Madrid had racked up 18 shots, Benzema heading the last of them over an open goal, and the current European champions were ultimately too good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of a night when Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior relentlessly tore into Chelsea and Madrid produced a display that Carlo Ancelotti called \u201ccomplete\u201d, control applied, his team could feel disappointed that the final score was not definitive. And yet Thibaut Courtois, the continent\u2019s best goalkeeper, had made his statutory save, a lifeline had appeared before Chelsea right at the end and the visitors might have had the perfect start too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twice Frank Lampard\u2019s team were away inside four minutes. Both times N\u2019Golo Kant\u00e9 got them running and both times it was almost astonishingly simple, but neither brought the opener. The first time, Kant\u00e9 released Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix, whose sprint began inside his own half and continued right through the middle. Momentarily clear, doubts crept in and he put the brakes on. \u00c9der Milit\u00e3o caught him and although he shifted to the left, the opportunity had slipped from him and his shot did not have enough to beat Courtois.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within two minutes Kant\u00e9 was scampering through himself. A ball to the right would have released Raheem Sterling but the gap was closed before he spotted it and he was forced left to F\u00e9lix instead, where the attack broke down. Two minutes after that, Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez did set Sterling away, but he was taken out by Eduardo Camavinga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a good beginning; it was also brief, traffic soon heading the other way. Benzema was blocked by Thiago Silva, Vin\u00edcius was denied by Kepa Arrizabalaga and then the Brazilian went down wanting a penalty having taken advantage of Wesley Fofana losing the ball \u2013 which was becoming a recurring theme. Madrid had taken a step forward and Chelsea could not handle it, unable to avoid the press when in possession. The back line looked cornered, escape impossible, a nervousness every time they had the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Chelsea\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chelsea\u2019s Ben Chilwell fouls Rodrygo and is subsequently sent off. Photograph: \u00d3scar del Pozo\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Fern\u00e1ndez found passes out, while Kant\u00e9\u2019s legs occasionally carried him through, and there were some runs for Reece James. But Chelsea looked uncomfortable with the ball at their feet. Pushed back ever deeper, even throw-ins were a problem, boxed in. In fact, it was from a throw that they fell behind. Madrid won the ball, worked it to Dani Carvajal, who clipped it into the area. Vin\u00edcius, dashing behind, reached it, Arrizabalaga parried it and Benzema followed up, all so easy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the other end, Courtois almost immediately made a superb save when Sterling reached James\u2019s cross and there was a moment when F\u00e9lix turned Milit\u00e3o. But while the game occasionally opened up, Madrid were taking control. Vin\u00edcius clipped over Arrizabalaga only to see it cleared off the line. Benzema and Rodrygo combined to force another save. And just before the break came a moment that seemed to sum it up: Fofana, under pressure, turned back towards goal, lost possession and could only watch Federico Valverde dash away, grateful that the Uruguayan took on the shot rather than play a pass. It was Madrid\u2019s 10th.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their 11th didn\u2019t take long, Luka Modric curling fractionally over early in the second half and Chelsea\u2019s problems deepened when Kalidou Koulibaly, who had sprinted to prevent Rodrygo escaping, pulled up soon after. Even more so when Ben Chilwell was sent off three minutes later, having pulled down Rodrygo as he chased Valverde\u2019s simple lofted pass. David Alaba\u2019s resulting free-kick was saved but the plan seemed clear now: Madrid now had half an hour to kill Chelsea off; Chelsea had half an hour to resist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ancelotti, aware that an opportunity had opened up, sought not to let the momentum drop and introduced Asensio who did what Asensio tends to do: come on and score, guiding virtually his second touch low into the corner from the edge of the area after Vin\u00edcius\u2019s lay-off. He had been on for only a minute. Madrid had 16 more still but couldn\u2019t end the whole thing, relieved in the end to escape a late, late scare when Mount had the chance that could have given Chelsea something to take back other than empty words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Boehly\u2019s belief didn\u2019t last long. Stopped outside the restaurant where both clubs\u2019 directors had lunch before this Champions League quarter-final first leg, Chelsea\u2019s owner had told fans: \u201cHave faith, we\u2019re going to win 3-0 tonight.\u201d A prisoner of his words as well as his deeds, within 20 minutes he had already been proven wrong, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":31151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3295],"tags":[1564,5304,5891,1725,6096,1911,8924,169,10739,11067,9505,9026,746,7319,11638,168,803,11294,9852,9598,5286,460,3874,10634,12485,12187,1260,196,11259,7419,895,7982,5594,10943,594],"class_list":["post-31145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-sport","tag-antonio-rudiger","tag-attack","tag-benzema","tag-brazilian","tag-carlo-ancelotti","tag-champions-league","tag-chance","tag-chelsea","tag-display","tag-escape","tag-european","tag-fans","tag-feel","tag-fern","tag-forced","tag-frank-lampard","tag-goalkeeper","tag-injury","tag-kante","tag-karim-benzema","tag-koulibaly","tag-lampard","tag-lead","tag-lost","tag-lunch","tag-n","tag-raheem-sterling","tag-real-madrid","tag-shot","tag-the-game","tag-thibaut-courtois","tag-todd-boehly","tag-traffic","tag-watch","tag-who"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}