Madrid repeat 2-0 win over Chelsea to make Champions League semi-finals.

Rodrygo Goes scored a brace for La Casablanca to make it 2-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate, marking Madrid third semi-final appearance in three years.

In a contest which honestly looked like it was definitely headed the Blues way, Los Blancos managed to do what they do best when it comes to Champions League affairs.

The Game

For the first 45 of the game, the 14 time UCL Champions looked lifeless, their opponents dominating possession and controlling midfield play. Players like Luka Modric were having a hard time on the pitch, the Croatian making a couple of wrong passes which resulted in the commentator calling him an ‘impostor on the pitch".

Trouble was brewing for the Spanish giants as the Blues exerted so much pressure on the defence.

At a point, Kai Havertz had the ball down on the left flank. Eder Militao rushed onto him and lunged at his right foot. It was quite a reckless challenge, referee Daniel Orsato had no choice than to pull out a yellow card from his pocket. The Brazilian midfielder was booked signifying he was going to miss the first leg of the semi-finals if Madrid eventually made it through.

Crosses between both flanks were a common practice with the right flank(Reece James) being on the receiving end. Chelsea were getting their numbers right possession wise and as regards ball control but were still coming up short in the final phase of attack. Ngolo Kante was presented with the best opportunity of the first half. It could have been Havertz but the ball fell to the Frenchman. The contact was poor and the defensive midfielder zipped it agonizingly wide of Courtois goal.

Lampard"s men needed more finishing prowess. They had a fair portion of the game but unfortunately not utilizing it punished them later on in the second half. The Madrid Frontline had not been all that efficient in the firsthalf given this it had turned out to be a Chelsea day so far.

Rodrygo beat Trevor Chalobah far out on the right wing in a pure counter-attacking moment. The Brazilian winger raced onto the box.
Vinicius Jr got the ball and in the midst of the ‘pandemonium", he teed up Rodrygo for a simple finish.

Rodrygo doubled the lead in the 80th minute. Federico Valverde received the ball in the box, did well to distract Kepa before diverting the pass to the winger. All too easy, the Brazilian tucked it into the bottom of the net as the Blues were well on their way out of the competition by now.

Things Looking Up

It"s quite an improvement for Lampard"s side compared with how they"ve played over the past couple of games. There was so much confidence and passion to actually win the game, their deficiencies being in their final phase of attack. A lack of a typical, conventional striker still hunts the club today and it once again played out in their defeat to Madrid last night.

Chelsea have now lost their last four games, all under Frank Lampard, are without a win in their last seven and have managed just a single goal across all of their past six games.

Madrid await the winners of tomorrow"s tie between Manchester City and Bayern Munich. City beat the Bavarians 3-0 in the first leg at Etihad and the Germans have a huge task ahead of them at the Allianz Arena or else we get to see a remake of the Manchester City vs Real Madrid clash from last season"s Champions League semi-final.

Main image credit Embed from Getty Images