Whichever way you paint yet another defeat, this was the end of an era for Chelsea.
They are out of the Champions League, it could be a very long time before they are back on European football’s biggest stage and you have to worry about the future of the club. In less than a year, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has turned the club from serial winners into a laughing stock and a mess.
They did at least summon up a performance full of passion and effort and with better finishing they might just have upset 14 time winners Real Madrid. But it was a familiar story of missed chances and sloppiness in front of goal which was their undoing and they were ultimately punished by Real’s ruthlessness.
Real Madrid’s Brazil star Rodrygo scored two second half goals to read the last rites on Chelsea’s disastrous season and now all they have left is playing to avoid the humiliation of finishing in the bottom half of the season. It was the Chelsea fans who deserved as much credit as anyone as it felt like they were determined to enjoy their last big European night for a while.
They whipped up a big atmosphere, Frank Lampard urged his players on from the touchline and you certainly cannot lay the blame at his door. Instead, Boehly has to carry the can as the owner more interested in his own self publicity and going into the dressing room after games as he did last Saturday after the defeat to Brighton.
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Boehly admitted the season has been “embarrassing” when the reality has been that the club’s ownership have ruined 19 years of Roman Abramovich reign as Chelsea’s former owner built a club which won trophies year in and year out. Of course Abramovich had to be removed but it feels as if the club has fallen into the wrong hands and now Boehly has a big job on his hands to regain the trust of the fans and rebuild a team which is drifting towards mediocrity.
It was Lampard on the touchline, backed up by another Chelsea legend Ashley Cole, who were the reminders of the glory days because they used to thrive on these nights. But Chelsea, already trailing 2-0 on aggregate, could not find a way past Real Madrid’s rearguard action as Thibaut Courtois came back to haunt his old club with a string of sensational saves.
Courtois’s best was a sensational block at the feet of Marc Cucurella in first half injury time and the ex-Chelsea keeper turned to the Matthew Harding Stand and kissed the Real Madrid badge just to rub salt in the wounds. N’Golo Kante, playing almost as a forward in a strange but effective 3-5-1-1 formation, wasted two other big openings when just one goal would have taken the roof off Stamford Bridge and given them real hope.
Instead, Real Madrid brutally punished Chelsea for their wasteful finishing as they have now failed to score in 15 of their last 25 games. That tells its own story.
Rodrygo raced down the right wing, Trevoh Chalobah over committed himself with a crazy sliding challenge and gave the Real Madrid forward so much space. Karim Benzema could not finish, Vinicius Junior pulled it back and there was Rodrygo to finish what he started after 53 minutes. And then the Chelsea defence parted ways to allow Vinicius to set up Rodrygo for a tap-in after 80 minutes.
Real Madrid hardly look invincible, they could face Manchester City next, but they turn it on when they need to. It looks like a long way back for Chelsea.
