PreviousLive Chronicle
When it was all over, Benzema and Valverde collapsed, empty, lying on the grass.
They let a few seconds go by, and when they got up, limping, especially the Frenchman, they joined their teammates in the task of picking up Chelsea players who, on their first visit to the Bernabéu, had just been struck down by a spell, what else? .
RMAReal Madrid
two
Courtois, Nacho (Lucas Vázquez, min. 87), Ferland Mendy (Marcelo, min. 77), Alaba, Dani Carvajal, Casemiro (Rodrygo, min. 77), Kroos (Camavinga, min. 72), Modric, Vinicius Junior ( Dani Ceballos, minute 114), Federico Valverde and Benzema
Che Chelsea
3
Edouard Mendy, Reece James, Thiago Silva, Rüdiger, Marcos Alonso, Kovacic (Jorginho, min. 105), Loftus-Cheek (Saúl, min. 105), Kante (Hakim Ziyech, min. 99), Timo Werner (Christian Pulisic, min 82), Kai Havertz and Mason Mount
Goals
0-1 min.
14: MasonMount.
0-2 min.
50: Rudiger.
0-3 min.
74: Timo Werner.
1-3 min.
79: Rodrigo.
2-3 min.
95: Benzema.
Referee
Szymon Marciniak
Yellow cards Reece James (min. 9), Benzema (min. 36), Federico Valverde (min. 67), Camavinga (min. 90), Hakim Ziyech (min. 101), Kai Havertz (min. 108), Azpilicueta ( min. 112) and Dani Carvajal (min. 117)
Then they went around the field, on another absurd night, although perhaps perfectly expected, like that of PSG, when Alaba, untied, grabbed a chair and turned it into an icon.
As they surrounded the pitch, the stands surrendered to Modric again.
"I'm proud that they shout my name," he said while holding the best of the match trophy.
Further on, Rodrygo jumped the fence, he had taken off his shirt and seemed to doubt whether he would continue with his pants.
He squeezed another episode out of his connection to the European Cup, after scoring the goal that woke up the beast.
"The 0-3 has freed us and the magic of this stadium has come out, the magic of this club," Ancelotti said.
“Magic has helped Carvajal to play as a centre-back, and he has done very well.
He has given extra energy to reach the semi-final”.
The pass to Rodrygo came from Modric, his father according to inside jokes.
It was another classic delicacy from the outside right, at the most desperate moment, when the Croatian decided he was going to win the match and convinced the Bernabeu to follow him.
Back in familiar and exciting territory: Chelsea came from behind and the one that ended up coming back was Madrid.
“I have never given up the game for lost.
At the Bernabéu I have never thought that everything was lost”, assured Ancelotti to the last bull.
Quite the opposite of Tuchel, who in London, just after losing the first leg (1-3) staged his surrender before the press.
But everything was suspicious in Chelsea, everything distilled an aroma of what is he up to?
From that sad little face of the German on Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel began his comeback plan in reverse of what the manual dictates, for example the madridista: giving everything for lost.
Who could overcome that? Tuchel said that night.
It was the beginning of a strange week in which a guy who many footballers reproach for a lack of empathy seemed to be looking for affection.
A couple of days later he continued to show his mourning, as if they had just left him.
He recounted that when he got home after the loss he put on the match and started eating chocolate, "a huge amount," he said.
He even sped up the speed at which he played the encounter in some phases, as if he had just reached the scene where his partner told him it's not you, it's me.
The German appeared like a sunken man who underlined that the game was at the Bernabéu, and against Real Madrid.
Chelsea had never set foot in Chamartín, and Tuchel, who had been there on the PSG bench, decided to do it as little as possible.
He didn't even try it the night before for the traditional last training session before a Champions League match.
They stayed quartered in their sports city.
Fear?
Strategy?
Who knows.
Nor was it easy to figure out why they forced Madrid to change pitches before the match began.
Perhaps they wanted to return, point by point, everything they received in London, where Courtois caused them not to start attacking where they used to either.
They almost did.
The fact is that Madrid did seem disconcerted.
He moved around his house as if he had just woken up and the switches had been changed overnight.
Vini Jr., for example, took off running very quickly down his left flank, but Tuchel had taken Christensen away from there, whom he had martyred in the first leg.
The Brazilian ran, entered the area and crossed with his left foot, as in Benzema's first goal at Stamford Bridge.
But Benzema was not there.
There was no one there.
That astonishment of the Brazilian, of the entire stadium, soaked the team, which did not wake up until 0-3, a place where it was seen twice, one of them annulled by the VAR.
So yes, lost and desperate, again in the place of someone who needs to come back, then that magic that Ancelotti clings to woke up and everything seemed to return to its place.
Rodrygo scored a great goal like his before and Vini found Benzema again.
Tuchel at least has to say that he was right.
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