(Football news) Real Madrid came to Stamford Bridge for the 2nd leg of the UCL quarter finals with a 2 goal lead. Carlo Ancelotti started with the same XI that won the first leg and beat Barcelona 4-0 at the Nou Camp. Antonio Rudiger, Aurélien Tchouaméni, Marco Asensio were all benched but they did come on in the 2nd half.
Frank Lampard’s line-up for Chelsea was rather surprising as he went with a 5-4-1 formation as Kai Havertz was the only forward. Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Mason Mount and Christian Pulisic were all left on the bench. Lampard came with a clear gameplan of dominating the midfield which is Real Madrid’s strength.
Lampard’s game plan worked really well as Chelsea had a really good first half. N’Golo Kante was playing in attacking positions and he often found himself on the right wing. Kante had a golden opportunity to score a goal when he was unmarked in the box during Havertz’s cross but the Frenchman failed to hit the target.
Real Madrid had a couple of decent chances on the break but Chelsea managed to keep it tight enough. Eder Militao got a booking in the first half which is terrible news as he is now suspended from the 1st leg of the semi final. Thibaut Courtois made a couple of really good saves, especially the one towards the end of first half against Marc Cucurella was world class.
Real Madrid managed to keep it to 0-0 despite Chelsea playing really well. At half time David Alaba had to come off due to a muscle overload and he was replaced by former Chelsea player Antonio Rudiger. Militao escaped a 2nd yellow card which angered Frank Lampard quite a bit but the replays showed that it was a correct call.
Chelsea were looking very dangerous but then Rodrygo went on an incredible run in the 58th minute and managed to score the goal to make it 3-0 on aggregate. The game became much more open and Rodrygo scored again to put the game to bed. Real Madrid will now face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the semi finals. It is the 11th time Real Madrid have qualified for the UCL semi final in the last 13 years.
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