Real Madrid Defeat Chelsea in UEFA Champions League

While the future of Chelsea football club remains in turmoil off the field, the team suffered a torrid night on the pitch in its Champions League quarterfinal first leg tie against Real Madrid on Wednesday. A hat trick for Karim Benzema inspired his side to a 3-1 win on a wet and windy night in west London, putting the Spanish side in firm control of the matchup ahead of the return leg. It was a game that promised to look very different when the draw was made. Sanctions on out-going Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, due to his links with Russian president Vladimir Putin, looked likely to have a huge impact on what was the biggest game of the club's season so far.

There was uncertainty whether any fans would be able to attend the game and restrictions on travel budgets brought into doubt whether Chelsea would even be able to participate in the Champions League at all. But, after further clarifications and working with the British government, it was easy to forget about the off-field troubles as a full capacity Stamford Bridge cheered on its side. On the pitch, it was Chelsea who started better, swarming on Madrid players who took a while to settle but settle they did. The visitors worked a brilliant chance for Vinicius Jr. who smashed the crossbar with his early effort and Chelsea didn't take heed of the early warning. Thomas Tuchel's side quickly found themselves two goals down after Benzema planted two pinpoint headers past Edouard Mendy in a chaotic three minute period. The goals were greeted by frenzied celebrations in the away end with many of the Madrid fans at the mercy of the stormy conditions. With the semifinals looking like a distant dream for Chelsea, the home support started to become frustrated but there was still a twist to come in a frantic first half. Kai Havertz halved the deficit with a header of his own, latching onto a beautifully crafted cross from Jorginho. But before many had taken their seats after the restart, Benzema was on target again, this time taking advantage of some sloppy play by goalkeeper Mendy. His pass to Antonio Rudiger was poor and the defender could do little to prevent Benzema from stealing possession and passing into an open net. It was a second consecutive hat trick for the Frenchman in this competition, coming after his heroics in the round of 16 against Paris Saint-Germain. Despite Chelsea having more attempts and plenty of the ball in the second half, it was the Madrid fans who were dancing as the home fans became increasingly agitated. There was enough to suggest Chelsea had a chance, albeit slim, in the second leg but who knows what the club will look like by then. 

Chelsea vs Real Madrid team news

Chelsea (3-4-3) Mendy; Christensen, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; James, Kante, Jorginho, Azpilicueta; Mount, Havertz, Pulisic.

Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Carvajal, Eder Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Modric, Casemiro, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr.

 

 

PSG 3-2 win Vs Leipzig

It might sound strange, but despite scoring two goals and winning the game for Paris Saint-Germain with an outrageous Panenka, Lionel Messi did not really have a very good game. Still, nobody at a festive Parc des Princes seemed to mind too much. After looking wooden and curiously passive for an hour, Paris came to life in the last 25 minutes, beating an impressive Leipzig side despite having little cohesion and not much in the way of a tactical plan, but two of the most irresistible attackers on the planet. With three defeats out of three, Leipzig are now virtually eliminated, and for all their spirit and running, the spotlight will now fall on their new coach Jesse Marsch.

By contrast, you suspect even Mauricio Pochettino does not really know how good this Paris side is. The attacking combinations are still being drilled, the midfield looks overstretched and occasionally the defence gives the impression it wants to run and hide. In the meantime just savour the entertainment, and the burgeoning bromance between Messi and Kylian Mbappé, who for all their differences, for all the operatic, highly strung drama of recent months, look like they are beginning to enjoy each other’s company. It was Mbappé who laid on Messi’s first goal and created his second, winning a penalty and allowing Messi a free run at it. In stoppage time Messi returned the favour, spurning the chance of a hat-trick to let Mbappé take the spot-kick, which the France forward duly blazed over the bar. No matter. PSG are back on top of Group A, although not without a few scares. Even from the early stages you could sense that both teams were there to be got at, and both knew it too. Leipzig pushed high and got the ball forward quickly, trying to create space for their attacking wing-backs. Paris, meanwhile, would look to the spaces in behind, trying to release Mbappé into the open channels. And it was from just such an opening that he got his early goal. It came via a smart low finish at the end of one of those terrifying, prowling dribbles in which the defender Willi Orban this time is almost paralysed with indecision and so ends up being led into a sort of doomed dance. The goal itself was greeted with the imperial assent of a crowd that without wanting to put too fine a point on it is used to going 1-0 up an awful lot. Perhaps the only consolation for Leipzig was that chasing the game required little change in style.

Actually, there was another: PSG will generally always give you a chance. This is, after all, a team that have kept just four clean sheets in 14 games this season. And even as several good opportunities came and went to Konrad Laimer and André Silva (twice), there simply was not the same sort of jeopardy you get when you miss a chance against, say, Chelsea. Slowly Leipzig were beginning to feel their way into the game, find the spaces. And shortly before the half-hour they were able to stroll the ball up the pitch and work it unfussily from right to left, where Angeliño put in one of his trademark early crosses for Silva to finish from a tight angle. It had been coming. After a short truce at the end of the first half, Leipzig made their move at the start of the second. Again it came on the counter, the ball spread left to Angeliño, the penalty area packed with white-shirted runners. Nordi Mukiele, the Parisian native, volleyed in Angeliño’s delicious cross, and all of a sudden the heat was on Pochettino, who with precious few attacking alternatives on the bench could change personnel but not the system. What of Messi? These hectic hard-running games no longer really suit his style: it’s worth remembering that his last game against Bundesliga opposition ended in an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich. He had just one touch in the Leipzig penalty area in the first half. Still, all genius needs is a glimpse. And after bundling the ball in from close range from Mbappé’s unselfish pass he added the coup de grace seven minutes later: an irreverent dink after Mohamed Simakan had pushed the speeding Mbappé over in the area. In a way, Mbappé’s late missed penalty – awarded after a foul on Achraf Hakimi felt strangely apt: the comedy bassoon that brought the curtain down on another riotous Parisian farce.