SANTIAGO BERNABEU — There was to be no miracle, even if Chelsea tasted victory, saw the headlines and heard the exultant roar from the rafters of the Santiago Bernabeu at various points of a remarkable evening.
Thomas Tuchel spoke of his team needing “a fantastic script”- nobody can deny the exceptional entertainment. Chelsea were fearless, frantic and often fabulous. But they were also frivolous with some of the many chances that came their way. The first leg produced vast regret at surrendered advantage; after Madrid they will rue squandered chances.
You know how it goes, those quasi-philosophical dilemmas that sport throws up: hope that kills you vs no hope at all, better to have loved and lost and led 3-0 and been pegged back vs never to have scored at all. So much expended effort. So close to nirvana.
And yet nothing but catcalls from the home end that sting more because they are undeserved. Those who flew from London did so without expectation, ambition or hope, but through loyalty and duty. But they were tricked into belief.
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Benzema breaks Chelsea hearts in extra time as Real reach semis - ratings and analysis12 April, 2022It’s when the whistles start around here that you know you have a chance. The piercing banshee call of the Santiago Bernabeu can be prompted by a perceived refereeing injustice, a misplaced pass or a spurned opportunity by their opponent; Chelsea did not care which. But they needed that audial proof of progress as soon as possible. Get the locals worried and you can get the players worried too.
Real Madrid ceded their inherited power through a misguided strategy of sticking with what they had. After an opening 10 minutes spent chasing the ball, Chelsea dominated it, dictating the tempo of the match. That’s no mean feat given Real’s trio of midfielders – Luka Modric, Casemiro, Toni Kroos – would all be shortlisted for a team you picked to keep the ball if your life depended upon it.
But Real were complicit in that surrender of control. By leaving Karim Benzema on his own and thus isolated – in Chelsea’s half as they dropped further towards their own goal, they allowed their visitors to overload. Tuchel nominally picked Ruben Loftus-Cheek as a right-wing back, but Reece James – picked in central defence – was able to push on as if he were a full-back and allow Loftus-Cheek to underlap regularly. That still left two centre-backs to deal with Benzema.
In the context of the away goals rule change, that approach was even more strange. Had Chelsea required at least three goals in 90 minutes, sitting back would have been more forgivable. Having exposed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge by getting Vinicius Jr to pin back James, they abandoned it to err on the side of caution.
The true folly of that approach lies in Real’s best asset: control. It is an attribute far easier to establish than re-establish and far easier to cede than regain. It relies upon cool heads and composure, both of which come naturally when your team has a two-goal cushion but less so when you have conceded twice and your stadium is rocking.
But class is permanent and all that and few are better at controlling the ball, their own narrative and the pressure piled upon them than this 36-year-old passing wizard. With his team 3-0 down and facing humiliation and media hyperbole, Modric produced an outrageous dinked ball that didn’t so much ask Rodrygo to volley it home as place the ball on the laces of his boot from 30 yards away.
That moment, even in the context of the Chelsea dominance that preceded it and the end-to-end mania that immediately followed, felt deeply significant. One of the beauties of this magnificent sport is that single moments can shift tides and they are often easy to spot in real time.
Chelsea still had chances, but they already missed their biggest. They were ahead in this tie for five minutes of the 210 and yet felt like deserving winners. They were winners on the night in Madrid and yet ended it as losers. They were ruthless in their creation of chances and then profligate with their execution of them. They troubled Real Madrid more than anyone expected and yet the scarves twirled in joyous celebration to mark their exit. Chelsea turned up in search of a miracle, held it between their hands and then let it slip into the night.
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