Away fans will be accommodated in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid in the Fondo Norte – right under the roof, in an area separated from the rest of the audience by security guards and gates. It is popularly called “Gallinero”, chicken coop, because it looks a bit like people are sitting there like chickens on a perch. On Wednesday evening, the supporters of what is currently the craziest football club in Europe, the fans of Chelsea FC from London, stayed there for 90 minutes. And you could see what kind of state of mind they are in right now.
Ten or fifteen minutes before the end of the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League at Real Madrid, a procession began when the final score was 0: 2: the Englishmen poured out in their hundreds, with clearly hanging heads, silent, depressed. And so they missed the only frivolity that Real Madrid afforded all evening: Coach Carlo Ancelotti held the ball up three or four times in the coaching zone, as if he weren’t wearing street shoes, but soccer shoes like in the 1980s feet. And shorts and functional clothing instead of a three-piece business suit from the collection of the official men’s outfitter of the 14-time Champions League winner.
Ancelotti tipped the ball to a player in the white dress; Defender David Alaba ran out to Ancelotti and hugged him, the crowd cheered. Which in the end was a fine expression of the seemingly contradictory mixture of exuberance and tranquility with which the evening was celebrated in Madrid.
There was no need to test the resilience of one’s heart like last year when one had to play against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City. When Frank Lampard said after his second game as caretaker manager at Chelsea that “special things can happen at Stamford Bridge” and that he himself had “been there on a few special nights”, it seemed more badly acted than convinced. That’s right: After a 0:2, the door to the antechamber of the semifinals is certainly not closed. But the overarching truth was: Real Madrid showed mercy to a team that had recently suffered four defeats in a row in all competitions without scoring their own goal.
How little is right at Chelsea can be seen on the one hand from the fact that the long-injured Frenchman N’Golo Kanté played under the fourth coach (Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor and now Lampard) in his fourth game of the current season. And an episode that happened hours before the game started. More precisely: when a reporter from the British TV channel Sky ambushed the US Chelsea owner Todd Boehly and elicited a few words from him shortly after the fraternization lunch with Real’s boss Florentino Pérez in the posh restaurant Zalacaín. “Have faith”, “believe in us!”, Boehly said to the reporter, and then allowed himself to be carried away to a prediction that had to be considered foolish not only in hindsight: “Chelsea will win 3-0.”
Toni Kroos was in the middle against Chelsea – and in most scenes he was in full control of the game.
(Photo: Jose Breton/AP)
It was probably not necessary to run the little film with the Boehly quip in the Real dressing room before the game on a continuous loop in order to draw all the awareness resources of the Real Madrid staff to the 90 minutes; Ever since the competition came into being, the senses of the players of the Spanish record champions have always been sharper in the Champions League than in any other competition. It shouldn’t have been unwelcome. At least Real Madrid offered a solid performance from A to Z. “We played a very complete game,” said Madrid coach Ancelotti.
The need for perfection arose solely from the fact that Chelsea had bought quite a few talented footballers. This season alone, the squad has been upgraded with fine feet for more than 500 million euros. The names of the defensive midfield that Chelsea have actually vouch for quality and success: the aforementioned Kanté became world champion in Russia in 2018 with France, Enzo Fernández did the same in Qatar in 2022 with Argentina, the Croatian Mateo Kovacic made it to the last two World Championships on the podium.
Lampard initially does without Kai Havertz in Madrid
It was surprising that interim coach Lampard did without DFB striker Kai Havertz until the 65th minute; on the other hand, he presented Raheem Sterling and João Félix in attack – not the worst alternatives. Chelsea weren’t literally without a chance in Madrid either. But when it came to the two most glaring chances – by Félix (2nd) and Sterling (23rd) – Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was there with formidable saves. Madrid also missed a few chances. However, the Spaniards took the lead in an extremely stimulating first half, which at times seemed like the final phase of extra time, thanks to a classic scoop from Karim Benzema (22′).
They made it 2-0 with a shamefully easy goal from substitute Marco Asensio (74′). Luka Modric played a corner kick out to the unmarked (and, by the way, as discreet as brilliant) Toni Kroos, who in turn spotted Vinícius Jr. in the penalty area, who was also unguarded. And when he played the ball out of the box, Marco Asensio had no trouble shooting in to make it 2-0: the Mallorcan was not even threatened (74′). In other words: Chelsea had defended so badly that even Chelsea owner Boelhy recognized it in the VIP stand, although he is more lost on the planet football than Adam was on Mother’s Day.
In any case, Chelsea’s players pressed their lips together. As if they feared: That’s it. Especially since there were only ten of them on the pitch at that point, because left-back Ben Chilwell was sent off by the excellent French referee François Letexier for an emergency stop against Real striker Rodrygo. However, it would hardly depend on him if Chelsea tried to catch up on Tuesday in their stadium at Stamford Bridge, which might even be full to the end. “I hope we don’t end up regretting that we didn’t score more goals today,” said Madrid goalkeeper Courtois.