Yes but no. He Real Madrid has achieved a good lead tonight at the Santiago Bernabéu against Chelsea (2-0), in the first round of the Champions League quarterfinals, but he wasted a good opportunity to have drawn more blood, taking into account that the blues they played more than half an hour with ten due to the direct red card to Chilwell at 59′.
With twenty minutes to go, Marco Asensio extended the white advantage (m.73), after Benzema they would have opened the scoring halfway through the first half, but the whites failed to get that third goal that would have practically sealed the tie. It is a good advantage, yes, but not definitive for the second leg, next Tuesday at Stamford Bridge. They could (and should have) been more goals for a Madrid led in the offensive section by Vinícius. How not. Chelsea have fast players (Reece James, Fofana, Thiago Silva…), but the white 20 won the game for all of them.
A match that began with a couple of scares at the Bernabéu, after two losses that caused two cons. The blueswith the surprising substitution of Kai Havertz —Frank Lampard, who has returned two years later to the bench of the London team, opted to place up top Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling—, took advantage of Madrid’s weak start to test Courtois, although Joao could not with the Belgian goalkeeper and then a cross from the Portuguese ended up clearing Alaba with some suspense. As if that were not enough, Camavinga, once again a left back —Valverde played in midfield and Rodrygo in attack on the right— soon saw a yellow card that ended up conditioning him for the rest of the night. It was by no means the best game for the Frenchman, sometimes a midfielder, other times a defense.
It took Madrid a few minutes to get into tune, but they did, with Vinicius and Benzema assuming more and more prominence in attack and going on to lock up a Chelsea that was waiting for its opportunity on the counterattack. In the middle of the first part, Karim was in charge of opening the can by taking advantage of a rebound from Kepa. An action that was born from a great shipment from Carvajal, going inside. Vini tried to control the ball inside the area, the Spanish goalkeeper from Chelsea cleared his fists and the ball remained dead for a Benzema that he did not forgive in the face of goal. The Frenchman thus signed his 25th goal of the season.
The tables had turned and Madrid went on to lock up Chelsea for many minutes. They suffered behind Fofana, Koulibaly and Thiago Silva, who took a cross from Vinicius under the sticks. The blues, aware of Madrid’s superiority, they tried to surprise by looking for the rival back. The clearest chance for the Londoners in the first half was a shot from Sterling at the near post that met the extraordinary intervention by Courtoisagain tonight in ‘world’s best goalkeeper mode’.
The party invited a white sentence after the break. The script called for one more march to Madrid, although it was difficult for him to give lucidity to his attack around the locker room, with distant shots from Modric and Camavinga. The Croatian, who almost scored a great goal, went up by very little. They painted rough for Chelsea because Lampard immediately lost Koulibaly due to injury, putting Cucurella in his place as a central defender. A decision that would cost the English coach dearly, as the Spaniard neglected his back and Chilwell saw the direct red for a very clear hold on Rodrygo from behind, when the Brazilian faced Kepa’s goal.
Lampard returned to the defense of five and Madrid, with more than half an hour to go, was obliged not only to dominate, but also to go looking for more goals that would end the tie. He was left halfway in the task. Chelsea had a world ahead and the white nightmare was again vinicius, maximum assistant of the Champions League. The Brazilian connected with Marco Asensio, who beat Kepa with a good left foot close to the post on the first ball he touched. Great game by Vini, with two assists, while the other side was represented by his compatriot Rodrygo, who this time was not fine.
Asensio himself later had the clearest match with Benzema, but it was not 3-0, thus giving life to a Chelsea that could have even closed the gap in injury time. She had Mason Mount, taking advantage of an untimely slip into the area of an imperial Militao, but ran into Rüdiger’s superb response, which saved the furniture. Madrid achieves a good income ahead of the outcome at Stamford Bridge, but it is far from definitive.
Datasheet
Real Madrid, 2: Courtesy; Carvajal, Militao, Alabama, Camavinga (Rüdiger, m.71); Kroos (Tchouameni, 84), Modric (Ceballos, 81), Fede Valverde; Rodrigo (Asenio, m.71), Vinicius and Benzema
Chelsea, 0: Kepa; Reece James, Flying, Koulibaly (Cucurella, m.55), Thiago Silva (Mount, m.75), Chillwell; Kante (Gallagher, m.75), Enzo Fernandez, Kovacic; Sterling (Havertz, m.65) and Joao Felix (Chalobah, m.65)
Goals: 1-0, m.21: Benzema; 2-0, m.73: Asensio
Referee: Francois Letexier (France). He admonished Camavinga (m.7), Militao (m.83) and Carvajal (m.87), from Real Madrid; and to Fofana (m.5) and Kovacic (m.87), Chelsea. He sent off Chillwell with a direct red card (m.59)
Incidences: First leg of the Champions League quarterfinals played at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in front of 63,142 spectators
