On Tuesday night the UCL saw the first act of the semis being played at Alfredo di Stefano in a quiet atmosphere, unusual for UCL semis, but usual during this pandemic period. But the quality on the pitch did not miss of course. In this match Real Madrid had to settle for a 1-1 draw at home to Thomas Tuchel's vibrant Chelsea side in their UEFA Champions League semi-final first leg. The semi-final tie between Real Madrid and Chelsea will be decided on Wednesday 5 May at Stamford Bridge. Everything is to play for in the return leg after the teams served up a stalemate in the first instalment at the Di Stéfano. The two goals came before the half-hour mark and then the teams tried to be careful with their maneuvers.
Real Madrid lined up with three at the back and two wing-backs. Vinicius partnered Karim Benzema up top. Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel named an unchanged side from the one that beat West Ham United 1-0 on Saturday.
The first half was played at a rip-roaring tempo and the chances didn’t take long to come. The first opening of the evening went Chelsea’s way with 10 minutes on the clock. Mason Mount began a counter-attack and Pulisic’s cushioned header found Timo Werner, whose effort from point-blank range was brilliantly kept out by Thibaut Courtois who used his leg to prevent the visitors’ goal. Chelsea took a deserved lead soon after, a measured ball over the top from Antonio Rudiger found Pulisic, who had made an excellent run in behind the Madrid defence. The United States men's international controlled the ball and rounded Courtois before slotting home. They continued to pile forward, with N'Golo Kante breaking down the right and having his pick of teammates to pass to on the left side of the penalty area before Chilwell shot wide on 24 minutes.
This was the Premier League side’s best spell of the game, but Madrid soon changed the pattern of the match. First, it was Benzema who went close with a left-footed strike from distance that came off the post in the 23rd minute, before the equaliser came six minutes later. Toni Kroos played a short corner to Luka Modrić who slipped the ball to Marcelo. The Brazilian crossed to the far post for Casemiro to flick the ball on to Militão, who in turn nodded it on to Benzema. The Frenchman controlled the ball with his head, turned quickly and acrobatically volleyed the ball into the roof of the net. Zidane’s side then went close on 32’ when Kroos curled an effort wide from the edge of the area. His shot went wider than the desired idea, but it was a good effort which put Chelsea in difficulty and proved that Real Madrid had entered the game as they should. This was the last clear-cut chance before the break.
The game changed after the restart, as both teams enjoyed long spells of possession and Real Madrid began to apply the pressure. Chelsea looked very solid in the second half as well but tried more to sat deep and seemed content to go away with a valuable draw and away-goal advantage and hardly gave the hosts any spaces to exploit. Real Madrid tried to controll the game more but Chelsea’s strong defensive maneuvers always stood out and prevented the Whites from dictating the game. However both teams never ruled out the idea of scoring and tried to do something about that without forgetting the defense. Chelsea made a triple substitution that saw Pulisic withdrawn and Hakim Ziyech, Kai Havertz and Reece James introduced. On the other side Madrid countered by bringing on Eden Hazard, hoping to bring more creativity on the field. Hazard tried to serve his teammates in a few chances but Chelsea’s defense neutralized their efforts. The visitors then had to withstand some late pressure from the hosts Kroos had Madrid’s best chance when his strike from the edge of the box deflected wide for a corner. On 88’, the resulting corner kick, taken by the German midfielder, was headed inches wide by Raphaël Varane.
Everything will surely be decided in the second leg with both teams having good chances to continue and reach the final. That leaves things finely balanced ahead of the return leg in London next Wednesday, when Madrid will look to reach the final for a fifth time in eight years. Madrid have Osasuna at home in the Liga at the weekend, while Chelsea are at home against west London neighbours Fulham. This tie concludes on Wednesday 5 May, with the winners taking on Paris or Man. City in the final in Istanbul on 29 May.
Varane and Zidane spoke after the match about the performance:
Raphaël Varane: "I think we saw two different games, in the first half and the second. They started well with a lot of intensity and they pressed us well; they broke our first line of the press with some very vertical play. With Karim's goal we got into the game and the second half was a lot better."
Zinédine Zidane: "We wanted to press high one on one, but when you don't carry it out well, things are tough. Once we scored, we were better and controlled play a lot more. We're alive and we're going to the second leg with the idea of winning. In general, we're happy with tonight."
Some curiosities about this match:
This match marked Real Madrid's 450th game in European Cup/UEFA Champions League history. Benzema notched his 71st UEFA Champions League goal, moving him level with Raúl González in fourth place on the all-time top scorers list. Benzema (33 years, 129 days) became the oldest scorer for Madrid in a UEFA Champions League semi-final, taking the record from Cristiano Ronaldo (32 years, 86 days). Madrid have kept just two clean sheets in their last 13 UEFA Champions League home games, which is not really a good stat as this certainly shows that Zidane’s team is not very solid in the back...
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