Champions League || Real Madrid vs Chelsea || Madrid, A Little Dream For A Final

You give what you have you can't ask for more. Real Madrid fell due to the overwhelming weight of logic against a superior Chelsea on all levels, from the physical to the tactical, although it remained with options until the 85th minute. It could fall much earlier because the blues forgave half a dozen very clear occasions, especially in a second half where the physical problems of half of the white team were evident. Ramos, Hazard, Mendy, the full midfield ... He has reached his limit, squeezed and anguished, fighting until the penultimate step of the Champions League, which not so long ago was celebrated almost like a title. Nothing to reproach.

Soccer is capricious. The Chelsea that gave Madrid a sovereign shake in the first leg went to rest with 1-1. In London he won the break with 1-0 in a balanced duel because he was fast, vertical and precise when he stole or exceeded the white center of the field, especially against the counter. He forgave the first for Werner's recklessness in going offside. In the second, the German completed Kanté's great play, breaking inside and Havertz's exquisite dive to the crossbar. The unique and the best of the very expensive German attacker in the first act.

Madrid deserved more in that period. He generated the same clear chances, two Benzema shots that belied Mendy's weakness. The goalkeeper. He scored two good hands, each with its own difficulty. But the whites did not send, with Nacho and Militao protecting a depleted Ramos, with Mendy in a lane that did not give him to overflow, with Vinicius as the lane as far from hurting as close to creating problems. And with Hazard in that eternal wait for the decisive spark. The Belgian tries, but he is a good mirror of the white team. It does not give.

All split balls were blue. By intensity and placement. Tuchel organized the 'blues' around his defensive strength. Kanté is the hinge between defense and attack, and Mason Mount improves the plays. He is comfortable with the ball and, above all, without it. He let himself be carried away until the break, and after it he was able to sentence. Azpilicueta crossed from the right and Havertz headed to the crossbar. Thiago SIlva forgave another clear header, and Mount stood alone in front of Courtois, after an excellent pass from Werner, to miss the top shot. Worse was the one that Havertz forgave, another heads up with Werner at his side that Courtois kicked out with his feet. All in 15 minutes of perfect storm. It did not arrive, and for that reason the changes were already essential. Zizou moment.

The relays were not easy to explain. He kept the three centrals and relieved the lanes. He was especially surprised by the departure of Vinicius, who generated the most problems in the Chilwell area. Madrid raised the lines and the response was another clamorous counter, three against one. Kanté resolved and rejected, miraculously, Valverde. The problem was that Madrid did not arrive, because Chelsea was fed up with missing goals. There was the hope of that winning gene from Madrid, capable of surviving the most cruel torture. He didn't even have the energy for the epic. In the final stretch, with Chelsea full, Kanté combined with Pulisic, brilliant as a revulsive, and held on in the area until serving the sentence to Mason Mount. There the dreams of Madrid died, which lasted longer than many anticipated in December. It's your obligation,

Miracles do not exist in football. Zidane said it. Not even for the most indecipherable equipment out there. This Madrid is little Madrid for a final, overwhelmed by Chelsea in the first half of the first leg and in the second of the second leg. The miracle was not dying before the flood of other people's occasions and arriving with hope at the outcome sentenced by Mount, the best of the semifinal ( 2-0 ). To fall to this height is to fall on your feet, especially because of the difficulties you have gone through, but to dream again you have to change. It is up to Florentino Pérez to make a move, while his team drains the vein of the League.

Istanbul was a good place to extend an empire like Madrid's in the Champions League, but it won't be this time. A Chelsea rebuilt in months will arrive by Thomas Tuchel , the same coach who led PSG to the final last year to the derision of Qatar's Titanic. Another English team awaits him, Pep Guardiola's City, soccer's Euclid, the ball geometer, in Madrid's antichrist past.

The hierarchy, to the field. The form is something else. Zidane did not leave any proper name in the bank. Sergio Ramos and Hazard started as starters. Either because the big quotes call the big ones, or why they will say. It is true that these duels are decided by instants, but in both cases they were footballers who have had a strange or unprecedented 2021. It was illusory to wait for the best Ramos, who returned after the relapse after his operation, and, much less, the Hazard that Madrid still does not know. The grass at Stamford Bridge didn't even bring him back to the nostalgia of his prime, either.

The French added an experiment to the ownership of both: the position of Vinicius. Madrid was ordered from three centers, which allowed Sergio Ramos to save extreme efforts. In the right lane, ahead, he placed the Brazilian. This could give Madrid a lot of flight per wing, given the speed, verticality and overflow of Vinicius, but, in the opposite direction, it implies defensive tasks that are unnatural for the footballer. Tuchel distinguished them from the first minute and ordered Chelsea to charge on the left in the offensive actions, forcing Militao to unfold . Vinicius was ZZ's first change. He was confused by his role. Bad day.

BENZEMA'S CHANCES

The start of the return had nothing to do with the first leg in Valdebebas. Tuchel's team did not start on fire except for the pressure and toughness in the first actions, but not in the rhythm of the game. He left it for last. He let the ball go to Madrid, confident in his good defensive balance, and awaited the losses of Zidane's men to launch into the open field and look for the back of his sides, especially Vinicius. Mount was the linchpin in those transitions, with his diagonals devilish to the area. Courtois stopped one of his first crosses destined for Werner , just as imprecise and anxious as in the first leg, even if the gift of the first goal fell from the sky. It was precisely the product of another attack on space, led by Kanté. Overcome Casemiro, a constant, Havertz shot to the crossbar and the rebound was finished off by the German. He could have scored before, in a catalog against, but he took one more step towards the offside.

Madrid knew they had to protect themselves with the ball, so they looked for long possessions, but struggled to overcome the lines of a team uniquely designed by Tuchel. Zidane's first solution was the shots from outside the area, given the impossibility of penetrating it, neither through the center nor from the wings. As in the first leg, the only option was to invent spaces that did not exist, and that is up to Benzema . He turned sharply at the front of the area first; then he rose to finish off Modric's jam center . On both occasions, he met the other Mendy , an exceptional goalkeeper. From then on, nothingness.

Chelsea picked up the pace after the break, in which they were able to knock Madrid down with half a dozen clear chances before Mount's goal. A shot from Haverzt to the crossbar, a heads-up that Courtois won against the same striker and another rejection by Valverde before the arrival of Kanté were the most outstanding but not the only ones. The scoreboard was the only thing that supported Madrid, but it was little Madrid to dream of, little Madrid for a final.