Karim Benzema
Benzema sees a yellow card after Havertz tackled Nacho. That sounds confusing at first. But only at first Les.
37 minutesMost ball contacts at Chelsea: Kovacic, Rüdiger, James, Kante. That sounds very defensive, but the opposite is true. The majority of these contacts are in the area around 20 meters in front of the Real penalty area. Always back and forth. Sometimes back and forth. Half-field flank Rüdiger, Havertz does not quite reach the flank.
33 minutesYou can see when Real have the time to defend, it’s incredibly difficult for Chelsea to get behind the chains. Always the same. Page change over page change. And patiently waiting for another gap. Finally, Rüdiger loses his patience and launches a projectile from 30 meters. Not bad at all. Maybe a meter past the right post. It’s difficult to say what Courtois would have done there, because that was a very strange flight curve again.
31 minutesOnly Chelsea are playing. The blues don’t come into the penalty area. But Real has to put in a lot of effort. Then a relief attack, but without the necessary speed. This is how Chelsea can form. And that looks similar to the other side. And in the end there is a similar chance as just on the other side for Kovacic. Except that here she gets Benzema. Also over it.
30 minutesAh, the possession stats are gone. Now 52 percent at Chelsea. That’s more fitting.
28 minutesHavertz runs into the penalty area on the half-right, hangs up a little too closely for Loftus-Cheek, who is blocked. Kovacic takes care of the rebound, but shoots well over it.
26 minutesAccording to ball possession statistics, we should be talking about a slight advantage for Real (52 percent), but that doesn’t look like it at all at the moment. Actually, almost everything only takes place in the real half. Completions 2:5.
23 minutesHow can Vinicius Junior be so free on half links? Then James intervened just in time, every mission is a risk now, because the defender is already under pressure, but he is successful, but the ball falls in front of Benzema’s foot, who immediately hits it. The ball takes a very strange trajectory, deflected?, and sinks onto the goal net. But Mendy would have been there.
22 minutesSuddenly the speed increases from Mount, who uses Werner nicely in the penalty area, in the full sprint he wants to cross Havertz, but gets stuck. But the ball remains in the ranks of the guests. Then Kovacic takes a run-up, short pass to Loftus-Cheek, who hits it from a central position, but is blocked on the edge of the penalty area. Real is just reacting at the moment.
20 minutesOf course, nothing has happened with the guest leadership, they would have to double the lead in order to at least get into extra time. The Blues keep pushing.
18 minutesIt’s difficult to say whether Werner actually wanted to play the ball like that. Regardless, it’s Mount’s first CL goal of the season. With two assists, Werner is one of the Blues’ top preparers in this competition.
Mason Mount
Template Timo Werner
hooray! Real Madrid 0-1 CHELSEA FC. And that’s how it happened: Chelsea uses the entire width, lets the ball run. Real is extremely compact, moves well. Until then the short pass ends up very centrally with Werner. He immediately directs his knee to the edge of the penalty area, where Mount takes over, takes a few more steps and then carefully flicks the ball next to the right post. Dream start for the blues.
15 minutesNow Chelsea are besieging the penalty area for the first time. Extremely patient.
12 minutesLet’s switch sides again. Winning the ball in midfield, Werner for Havertz, who immediately tries to put his team-mate back in the penalty area, but the pass gets stuck. Werner wasn’t offside yet, that would have been interesting.
11 minutesBenzema accepts the free kick. Over the wall, good, over the gate, not so good. From 18 meters in a central position. From there you can do more.
ReeceJames
That’s right, Vinicius Junior tunnels James in the middle and marches into the penalty area, but is briefly held by the Englishman. On the one hand, this gives yellow, on the other hand, a bomb free-kick position for the hosts.
10 minutesOnly played ten minutes, but one thing is for sure. Chelsea have huge problems with Vinicius Junior.
9 minutesSo let’s switch sides again. Marcos Alonso has a little space on the left flank and brings the ball sharply into the center, too steep for Werner, too much in the back for Havertz, the real defense can clarify the situation. But it was the first dangerous approach by the English.
8 minutesThe game started a bit hesitantly, but now it’s pretty clear that both teams know where the penalty areas are. Vinicius Junior on the left side makes James almost a bit dizzy, but he can’t find a pass in the penalty area.
7 minutesOpposite side (goes back and forth quickly), Werner dribbles into the penalty area, which has the practical background that he cannot end up offside, but gets stuck.
6 minutesThe hosts make their next attempt, Benzema dribbles into the penalty area, Vinicius Junior runs into position when Kante intervenes and separates the attacker cleanly from the ball.
5 minutesThen Real, Alaba wants to open through Vinicius Junior, but James is immediately on his feet. And the Englishman also conquers the ball.
3 minutesAnd then the game takes shape. The Blues, more of a Yellows today, settle in front of the penalty area and let the ball run. Center, left, center, right, there is a feeling of how to get into the penalty area, but for the time being we refrain from taking the next step. First gain ball safety.
2nd minuteCourtois gets the back pass at the edge of the penalty area, Werner runs into it. So can the blues too. Both keepers were on the ball early on. Otherwise, a lot is clearly still being sorted here.
1 minuteMendy pushes off Thiago Silva, who is immediately approached by Benzema in the goal area. So that everyone knows right away.
1 minuteThe game has started. It’s raining, so the English should feel at home.
Before the game startsThe direction of the game is in the hands of a crew from Poland. Szymon Marciniak on the pipe, Pawel Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewic on the flags. VAR is Tomasz Kwiatkowski, Bartosz Frankowski looks over his shoulder. Only the fourth official comes from Serbia: Srdjan Jovanovic.
Before the game startsThat should be different this time. Tuchel underlined that Chelsea did not succeed in imposing the game on Real in the first leg. The counter-pressing didn’t work, Real set the pace. The slower the better for Los Blancos. Tuchel sees the chance for his team primarily in making the game more physical. If this does not succeed, it could be another very high-calorie night for him. As he admitted at a press conference, he processed the first defeat with a chocolate frenzy.
Before the game startsOf course, a significant role in the 1: 3 from the first leg – despite all the quality of Real – also played that some Chelsea players acted far from normal form. Mendy made a catastrophic goalkeeper error, ball winning machine Kante showed one of his weakest performances in the CFC jersey for a long, long time, Jorginho often acted too sluggishly.
Before the game startsAnd in midfield Kante and Jorginho had little to oppose the trio of Casemiro, Modric and Kroos. How useful all of this would have been without the congenial duo Benzema/Vinicius Junior is a completely different question.
Before the game startsIn the first leg, the Blues were vulnerable on the flanks behind a dominant midfield formation. Tactically, the first leg clearly went to Ancelotti, who had read Chelsea as vulnerable on the sides. Valverde plowed through Azpilicueta on the right, Vinicius Junior was difficult to get hold of on the left for Christensen and James. The Real offensive exposed the gaps in the Blues’ defensive network and exploited them brutally.
Before the game startsYou have to be able to deal with disasters. The Spanish leaders and upcoming champions recently showed that. After a dismal Clasico (0-4 against Barca), Carlo Ancelotti’s side followed up with three wins, of which last week’s performance in Fulham obviously stands out. It almost seemed like a dethroning of the defending champion.
Before the game startsWhat was that like in Real’s win at Stamford Bridge last week? The defeat of a team that suddenly felt insecure after weeks of an uncertain future? At first glance, that doesn’t seem improbable. First the 4-1 defeat at home in the Premier League against Brentford, then the disaster against Real… The 6-0 win against Southampton at the weekend suggests that the form is more of a temporary weakness. Two defeats, but there are also seven wins for the Blues in the last nine competitive games.
Before the game startsThings are a little different for the guests. At Stamford Bridge it was a 3-4-3. Today the Tuchel squad starts with a back four. As a result, Azpilicueta falls out (bench), Marcos Alonso takes over the left side of the defensive chain. In addition, Loftus-Cheek starts for Jorginho (bench). Werner, who scored twice against Southampton, starts in attack for Pulisic. Lukaku stayed in London, suffering from an Achilles tendon injury.
Before the game startsThe blues come up with this eleven: Edouard Mendy – James, Thiago Silva, Rüdiger, Alonso – Kovacic, Loftus-Cheek, Kante – Mount, Havertz, Werner.
Before the game startsBasically the same line-up as in the first leg. Ferland Mendy took a break at the weekend, today he returns to the starting XI. The only change: Nacho starts in central defense next to Alaba because Ederson Militao has to serve a suspension.
Before the game startsLos Blancos play in this formation: Courtois – Carvajal, Nacho, Alaba, Ferland Mendy – Modric, Casemiro, Kroos – Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Junior.
Before the game startsThe grapes hang high. In the run-up to the game, Thomas Tuchel said: “Playing as a guest team at the Bernabeu is a huge challenge. Especially when you need a certain result.” The Blues have to come back from a 3-1 defeat in the first leg.
Before the game startsWelcome to the second leg of the quarterfinals of the Champions League between Real Madrid and Chelsea FC.
40 minutesRelief attack by the Madrilenians. And they show how they too can let the ball roll in the smallest of spaces. Get stuck in front of the penalty area, and when everything is tight, it can go through Courtois again if necessary. Maybe a little cumbersome. But better than conjuring up switching situations in the blues.