Chelsea – Real Madrid – 2: 0, Champions League semi-finals – 2021, goals, video, match analysis

Football

Chelsea got a good score on the road, although from the way the match developed, they could count on more. So it was interesting which one would choose Thomas Tuchel: defend a draw, counting only on counterattacks, or try to dominate a weakened Real Madrid. I chose the first option – not that very unexpectedly.

Tuchel repeated reception of the last matches with Mount in the center of the midfield. The triangle of it, Jorginho and Kante without the ball was positioned base down, and the base was Jorginho. He also climbed almost to someone else’s penalty area (once behind Modric, more often behind Casemiro), but the performance of Mount and Kante was more important. They had to bite into the game by pushing the ball through Real Madrid’s midfield – and they did it.


Chelsea had an excellent 20 minutes. And Benzema had only one second, and it was enough
Chelsea had an excellent 20 minutes. And Benzema had only one second, and it was enough

Zinedine Zidane famous for his ability to adapt to any situation and adjust the team to any scenario. Visiting Chelsea, the task was not trivial: be sure to score against a team that conceded only 10 goals in 23 games under Tuchel (or, if we exclude the anomaly with West Brom, five in 22 games). And at the same time do not allow counterattacks, in which Londoners are strong.

Zidane came up with an unusual plan. Without the ball, the team played with two forwards and five players in midfield, and with the ball, when Modric rose third in the attack, the scheme resembled a 3-4-3 with a diamond in midfield. Real Madrid’s classic Barcelona was unexpected, but in the spirit of Zidane: he needed a scheme with as many options as possible to move the ball.

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The hybrid scheme had one more feature: Vinicius, of course, is not any lateral (especially not right). That is, he fulfilled this role, but he joined in the attack more and opened higher than Mendy.

Zidane’s plan crashed against the quality pressure of Chelsea. In the first half, the main creative bunch of Madrid, Kroos and Modric, were maximally involved in the game (the best in terms of the number of ball touches), but only in non-hazardous areas. For two, they did not have a single pass either in the penalty area or in front of it – in zone-14, which is considered the key to creating chances. Due to the outstanding pressure resistance, the Real Madrid stars kept the ball, but no more.

Photo: Clive Rose / Getty Images

Real Madrid created their main moment in the first half solely on skill. Modric cut a difficult diagonal from the depth into the penalty area, surrounded by rivals, and Benzema caught the ball in a half-turn, which was flying from behind, and punched it with his head. A really good moment – but only because Modric and Benzema squeezed the maximum out of the episode, and not because the episode looked like an assist in terms of structure.

Chelsea’s goal began with a belated pressure from Madrid, but its protagonist is Kante. He turned around great under the pressure, immediately turning a normal episode into a potentially dangerous one. And then he also played a wall with Werner, after which he brought Havertz almost one-on-one. A great individual game.

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The rights to the video belong to the National Sports TV Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match TV page on Twitter.

At the same time, Chelsea, in the first half, began to destroy the guests with counterattacks. And in the second half, they went on the conveyor belt every few minutes. It seemed that Chelsea are much better prepared physically, because after the break, the difference in movement became even more noticeable.

The hosts not only pressed perfectly (refusing the ball worked 100%), but also clearly identified several targets for selection: Militao, Vinicius and, unexpectedly, Azara. It makes no sense to count the clear chances that Chelsea have created after interceptions, but the important thing is that there could be even more of them. Werner was the problem: he is usually criticized for implementing, but in this match he did not succeed in the last pass. He spoiled several promising counterattacks by the fact that he could not part with the ball in time or passed out of the tempo.

Zidane in the second half was ready to open the game in both directions and took a big risk. At some point, “Real”, having formally a scheme with three central defenders, remained with only Ramos, because Nacho and Militao finally moved to midfield. But no reshuffling helped to overcome Chelsea’s pressure.

The best way to describe the total control of the owners is with a couple of numbers. Although they had possession of the ball only 32% of the time at the end of the match, the ball was one-third of Real Madrid more than one-third of Chelsea: 29% to 23%. Considering the level of the masters gathered in Madrid, this is the best compliment to the pressure possible.

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Kante, Mount – power in pressing, power in attack. I have already said about Kante’s role in the first goal, but he also started the second goal, taking the ball away from Nacho. Hero of the match.

Kante also did not implement one-on-one output. And Mount too. And Havertz (twice). This must be said to remind you of what Chelsea’s advantage was in the second half. It seems that by turning the team into a pressure machine, Tuchel did the best he could.


Tuchel has cheated on Neymar, is obsessed with work and swears with everyone. What to expect Chelsea
Tuchel has cheated on Neymar, is obsessed with work and swears with everyone. What to expect Chelsea

Zidane, in four halves of constant changes, did not manage to figure out how to overcome this pressure. He is a master at creating situations in which the individual qualities of his players are most vividly manifested, but regardless of all his attempts, the game simply did not come close to Mehndi’s goal. Long-range strike by Modric, difficult strike by Benzema – that’s probably all in the second match. Small compared to the Big Chance family, which statistics portal Opta counted at Chelsea. After the game, Mount said his team could have scored five goals. And he didn’t even exaggerate.

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