Chelsea 0 Real Madrid 2: Lampard’s strugglers show fight but lack quality as Blues dumped out by Rodrygo double
THERE was something about the way Rodrygo literally walked his second goal into the net, which seemed to sum up Todd Boehly’s first season as Chelsea supremo.
It felt like a message of pure contempt, from the greatest club in European football to a ragtag bunch of overpriced players chucked together by an American gob artist.
Boehly and his co-owner Behdad Eghbali has water-cannoned £600million in transfer fees, yet left four different managers without an authentic centre-forward.
And having headed into the Chelsea dressing-room and accusing players of being ‘embarrassing’ after the weekend defeat by Brighton, the shame should lie with Chelsea’s American moneymen.
Frank Lampard’s four matches as interim manager have produced the club’s first four-game losing streak in 30 years.
And Chelsea’s season is now over six weeks prematurely. They are in the bottom half of the Premier League table, they are out of every Cup and have eight dead rubbers ahead of them.
Whoever inherits Lampard’s mantle will not be competing in Europe next season – which will cause more financial headaches for owners who have spent like drunken sailors in a knocking shop.
Chelsea actually had a decent go at Real for 45 minutes.
But the 14-time European champions prevailed through a smart second-half double from Rodrygo to double their first-leg lead and set up, in all probability, a second straight Champions League semi-final against Manchester City.
In keeping with the utter chaos surrounding this club, Lampard’s team selection had something of the bingo caller about it: “On his own, lucky seven, N’Golo Kante”.
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On paper It looked like a 3-6-1 formation designed to keep it tight until the arrival of cavalry – a bench which cost more than a quarter of a billion.
In practice, it was anything but cautious. Chelsea were in a manic, high-pressing, cage-rattling mode.
The faithful were doing their best to produce an authentic old-school atmosphere, there were herberts throwing celery at police horses out on the Fulham Road and former Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois was being loudly accused of one-in-a-bed romps.
It was loud and boisterous and it seemed to spur on the randomly-assembled team of celebrities who make up Boehly’s Big Brother house.
Chelsea moved it quickly, not allowing the European champions to settle and they ought to have been ahead early on.
A Reece James centre bounced off Kai Havertz and fell invitingly for Kante – who had been pushed up into something like an inside-left position – but the Frenchman scuffed his shot wide.
Real had their moments – Rodrygo crashing a shot against the outside of the post, then Luka Modric darting through and forcing Kepa Arrizabalaga into a smart save.
But at least the Blues were showing the workrate, intent and belief to give it a decent go – and those qualities had been sadly lacking in Lampard’s first three matches in charge and for the vast majority of Graham Potter’s reign too.
The best way to unsettle a team who want to strut and swagger, is a simple refusal to let them settle. It was basic, old-fashioned English passion play and it wasn’t going badly.
Just before the break, a low centre from James skimmed across goal the face of goal and found Marc Cucurella, six yards out and unmarked, but Courtois denied the left-back with a brilliant stop, the Belgian clearly unperturbed by his fearful ear-bashing from the Matthew Harding Stand.
Cucurella, in for the banned Ben Chilwell, has not settled in well here, the £62m transfer fee trousered by Brighton filed under ‘we saw you coming mile off’ – but had he buried that, it might have helped.
At half-time, Ancelotti responded by sending on former Chelsea general Toni Rudiger in place of David Alaba in order to beef up Real’s defence.
It was a doff of the cap to Lampard, one of his 2010 Double-winners, a suggestion that Real knew they were in a game.
James soon launched a horrible challenge on Eduardo Camavinga – an ‘orange’ which received a yellow.
Kante squandered another decent chance, when a more natural forward player might have scored.
But then Eder Militao, who had already been booked, made a cynical foul on Trevoh Chalobah and somehow escaped a second caution.
Suddenly it was all going off. A heavy challenge from Toni Kroos on Mateo Kovacic had Ashley Cole lunging towards the fourth official, his fellow coach Joe Edwards grabbing the former England full-back by the throat.
And, then, amid the rage and the mayhem, Real decided it was time to get serious.
Militao pinged a pass forward to release Rodrygo, who skinned Chalobah, sprinted to the byeline and crossed low, past a couple of scrambling defenders, to pick out Vinicius Junior.
Vinicius squared it back to Rodrygo who tucked it away with a bedtime kiss.
Momentarily, Ancelotti punched the air and stuck out his chest, as animated as you’re ever likely to see the old dude in public. Courtois turned to The Shed and smirked. The Bridge fell into stunned silence.
Courtois soon saved a powerful Enzo Fernandez effort and Lampard sent on Mykhailo Mudryk, Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix – pretty much a £150m substitution, which undermines the Chelsea as plucky underdogs narrative.
Then that second goal, Federico Valverde strutting through and finding Rodrygo, who scored in mocking slow motion.