Chelsea 2-0 Real Madrid: 3 key takeaways | UEFA Champions League 2020-21
Chelsea defeated Real Madrid 2-0 last night in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final at Stamford Bridge. With it, they qualified for the final in Istanbul, where they will face fellow English club Manchester City.
Timo Werner scored the opening goal in the 28th minute of the match and Mason Mount increased the deficit in the 85th. Chelsea looked the sharper and fitter of the two sides, just as they did in the first leg in Madrid last week, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Blues' official Twitter account lauded the win:
We take a look at three crucial takeaways from yesterday’s match:
#1 Chelsea's front three tormented Real Madrid's defence
Chelsea started the match with their customary 3-4-3 formation with Mount, Werner and Kai Havertz upfront, while Real adopted a 3-5-2 formation.
The speed and guile of the Chelsea forwards troubled the Real defenders from the beginning, as veteran Sergio Ramos struggled to cope with his pacey opponents. Werner showed his opportunism by scoring his 12th goal for the Blues.
Moreover, Chelsea constantly troubled Real with Ben Chilwell's marauding runs through the left flank. Werner managed to put the ball into the net from a Chilwell cross in the 17th minute, but was in an offside position before that.
Havertz was a perennial nuisance to the Real defense and used his imposing presence to win the ball back in the Real Madrid half repeatedly. He headed an inch-perfect Azpilicueta cross onto the crossbar in the second half.
On another occasion, he could not score when he had only Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to beat.
Once again, Mount went on to combine well with Chilwell on the left flank and troubled Militao and Vinicius constantly. He finally managed to score his ninth goal of the season by slotting home a Christian Pulisic cross in the second half.
2. Real dominated the ball but Kante did the trick for the Blues, again
Real Madrid dominated the ball from the beginning and had more than 60 per cent possession throughout the match. Luka Modric pulled the strings from a central midfield position and Toni Kroos tried to surge forward with the ball at regular intervals.
Real played more than twice as many passes as their opponents in the match but could not convert their dominance of the ball into goals.
Evidently, Real struggled to play incisive forward passes and through balls, and sprayed the ball around in midfield without causing any harm to the Chelsea defense.
On the other hand, N’Golo Kante, the Chelsea midfielder, came into his own after a sedate start. He found the ball in the Real half and played a one-two with Havertz before the latter chipped the ball over Courtois to see it hit the crossbar. Werner made no mistake in scoring from the rebound.
Kante kept attacking the ball in the Real Madrid half after the break and managed to win it once again in the final third before playing it to Pulisic, whose cross found Mount unmarked in the Real penalty box. Mount scored with ease and Chelsea sealed the tie to qualify for their third Champions League final.
3. Real made substitutions in the second half but Chelsea should have scored more goals from counter-attacks
The Real Madrid wingbacks struggled to beat and go past their Chelsea counterparts in the first half. They were defending deep initially but started playing a high defensive line after conceding the goal, and it allowed Chelsea to launch a series of counter-attacks.
Each of Havertz, Kante and Mount should have scored before Chelsea found their insurance goal in the second half. Ramos and Nacho struggled to control the counter-attacking runs of the Blues, and Courtois’ repeated interventions made sure that the scoreline stayed somewhat respectable for Real.
Zinedine Zidane replaced his two wingbacks with Marco Asensio and Federico Valverde respectively, but it hardly made any difference. Cesar Azpilicueta and Andreas Christensen kept it watertight through the right flank, Thiago Silva denied Karim Benzema any breathing space, and Antonio Rudiger came up with timely challenges to make sure that Thomas Tuchel’s side prevailed in the end.