Chelsea fell to a heart-breaking 5-4 aggregate loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final after two legs.
Most of the damage was done in the Stamford Bridge leg with manager Thomas Tuchel saying that his side needed a "perfect script" if they were to progress to the semi-final stage. And it so nearly was perfect as the Blues were 3-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu and arguably should have had four after all of Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger, Timo Werner and Marcos Alonso scoring great goals.
The latter of the quartet's goal though was ruled out for an adjudged handball despite former referee Peter Walton claiming that there wasn't enough evidence for the VAR to overturn it. Once that moment happened coupled with Rodrygo's remarkable goal to level the tie once more, Karim Benzema's inevitable moment came in extra time as he a lapse in concentration allowed Los Blancos to deliver the final blow.
READ MORE: Chelsea player ratings vs Real Madrid: James outstanding, Kante mistakes costly, Mount delivers
"We are very disappointed and very proud at the same time," Tuchel said in his post-match press conference. "We played a fantastic match and deserved what we had. We scored four goals and had big chances to score even more. We were unlucky, that's why we are disappointed. We got beaten by pure individual quality and offensive conversion after our mistakes.
"Unfortunately, we had two mistakes after ball wins, and they were the most crucial moments in games against Real Madrid. In the end, we were unlucky. We deserved to go through after this performance and match today, but it was not meant to be. As you know, in games like these, you need luck and it was not on our side."
With everything still fresh on the agenda, football.london rounds up how the Chelsea players reacted on their social media channels to this defeat against the expected La Liga champions.
Marcos Alonso on his Instagram: 'Hard to put into words the disappointment after tonight's game. We deserved everything and we got nothing. We will keep working hard. Thanks for your support as always.'
Antonio Rudiger on his Twitter: '... a frustrating UCL knockout for us... but what an incredible fight over 120 minutes. So proud of the team's mentality.'
Reece James on Twitter: 'A game full of emotions. We gave everything yesterday. Sometimes in life everything just isn’t enough. Thank you for all the support!'
Cesar Azpilicueta on his Twitter: 'An amazing effort from everybody yesterday! We deserved much more but couldn’t be more proud of this team. Thank you for your support and we go again together!'
Ruben Loftus-Cheek on his Instagram: 'Heartbroken. We gave everything and fell shy of our objective. An incredible effort. Out heads will be held high.'
Mason Mount on his Instagram: 'We were resilient tonight and proved our might. We just fell short but remain Chels through and through.'
Christian Pulisic on his Instagram story: 'So proud of this team. Left it all out there @chelseafc.
Timo Werner: 'What a football game! Feels like we deserved more, really tough to take.'
Kai Havertz: 'Sorry we couldn't get it over the line in the end. Very proud of the teams performance. Now onto the FA Cup semi-final!.'
Jorginho on his Instagram: 'We fought until the end. Even though is not the result we wanted and maybe deserved, we showed great team spirit... proud of the team. We have to start again from here. Thank you for your support. We got very important matches coming ahead. All together, until the end. Come on Blues.
Trevoh Chalobah replying to Mason Mount's post: 'Proud.'
Callum Hudson-Odoi replying to the same post: '[Three blue hearts]'
Kepa Arrizabalaga commented on the same post: '[Two blue hearts]'
Ben Chilwell on his Twitter: 'So proud, great performance! We good!'
