TUCH AND GO FOR CHELSEA
Pulisic puts Blues on top but Benzema punishes missed chances
In filthy conditions, and beneath a sodden blue baseball cap, Thomas Tuchel was a very happy man. The warmth with which he congratulated his players as they left a sodden pitch at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano confirmed that. An away goal and another creditable performance for Chelsea in Europe, leaves them a home victory — or even a goalless draw — away from their third Champions League final.
Tuchel will fancy his chances, too. This was his fifth meeting with Zinedine Zidane, Real Madrid’s coach, and he is yet to lose. A win and four draws is his record, and Chelsea showed last night they have every chance of keeping that run going.
This was a fine display from a team considerably less experienced at this level than their opponents. Madrid’s squad is the most storied and successful in the competition, yet it did not look that way.
Chelsea were the better side. They had the best chances, took an early lead, and were only denied by an exceptional equaliser from Karim Benzema. With a striker of his calibre, Chelsea would have won. Much like Manchester City, they must start next season with a forward capable of defining the biggest matches. They could have got this tie pretty much won with better finishing.
Typical was an incident in the 71st minute when Hakim Ziyech whipped an excellent ball from the left into the penalty area. A striker like Erling Haaland might have sensed the potential and driven for it — to be fair Frank Lampard as a player would have, too. Kai Havertz in the middle simply seemed slow on the uptake and the moment was lost. Real Madrid may well have Sergio Ramos back for the return leg. Scoring is not going to get any easier.
When n’Golo Kante is the man of then match it suggests a certain type of encounter and, yes, it was one of those games, particularly in the second half. Yet, in the circumstances and given Liverpool’s fate in the previous round, this is not intended as criticism. It was a fine result and one Tuchel would no doubt have shaken hands on before kick-off, even if he will be disappointed to have lost the lead.
Yet Chelsea defended well in the periods when Madrid threatened, and they thwarted the lines commonly exploited by Madrid’s playmakers. Kante was magnificent in that area. The modern Madrid lack the fireworks of the Galactico era but that does not make them an inferior team. Equally, this doesn’t have the feel of a high- scoring tie. It may be that keeping Madrid at arm’s length again is Chelsea’s best path to the final.
As effective as Zidane’s tactics were against Liverpool, with a back three, they unsettled his team here, certainly early on. The strategy, mirroring Tuchel’s back three, appeared to come as a surprise to Chelsea, but Real’s players seemed uncertain of it, too. Chelsea had by far the better of the opening exchanges, got in behind Madrid and Zidane’s most creative players, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric, looked out of it.
Chelsea were ahead after 14 minutes — but that really should have been their second of the night.
Alas, Timo Werner. We can all see why Tuchel perseveres with him, his speed, his positioningtioning and his work ethic are all first rate, but his smartsrts as a finisher have been een sadly missing this is season. It isn’t just t his goal return that is lacking. He gets into great areas, the ball arrives, but the end product is woeful. So it was after just 10 0 minutes in Spain. n. If Chelsea are re eliminated, they will rue the opportunities unities missed in the openingpening 45 minutes of the first leg, and in particular the first of the night.
Mason Mount broke forward with an excellent run down the left and his cross picked out Christian Pulisic at the far post. A deflection had taken much of the sting out of the pass and Pulisic rightly decided to put in a team-mate with his header rather than go for goal. The set-up for Werner, in the middle, was perfect. The shot was not. It lacked power and was struck straight at Thibaut Courtois from close range. Fortunately, Chelsea did not have to wait too much longer to go ahead. Here was another example of a foreign coach in English football not being afraid to play long. Early on, it was plainly one of Tuchel’s tactics, when an EnglisEnglish manager might be wwary of the criticism ciscriticism that results frfrom travelling by rroute one. Antonio Rudiger took the ball close to the halfway line and dropped it ssweetly between two Madrid dedefenders, with PulPulisic timing his cleveclever run just right. He colcollected the ball andand, unlikunlike some teammates, did not panic when faced with goal. Courtois came out to try to thwart him, dived at his feet, almost got a hand to the ball, but Pulisic took it around him. White shirts were massing on the goal-line but Pulisic avoided them too. His shot clipped Raphael Varane on its way to the net but not in a way that could prevent the inevitable. It was the first goal Courtois had conceded in six