CHELSEA SMILE
Real Madrid 1 Chelsea 1: Pulisic bags precious away goal to give brilliant Blues edge in Spain despite Benzema stunner
GOOD things come to those who wait - and Chelsea are relishing their chance to have a crack at Europe’s grandest club.
Legend has it that Roman Abramovich decided to buy into football after watching a classic fixture between Real Madrid’s Galacticos and Manchester United.
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The Russian had to wait 18 years before his team faced Real but they outplayed the Spanish champions for long stretches and they have the edge heading into next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
The rat pack who wanted a European Super League would have made this a regular fixture.
Chelsea fans want their cold nights at Stoke - but a soaking wet night on the outskirts of Madrid proved a rare treat too.
In particular, a belting first half which saw Christian Pulisic fire Chelsea in front before Karim Benzema netted a glorious equaliser.
Had Benzema and Chelsea’s bashful striker Timo Werner swapped sides, then Thomas Tuchel’s men would be home and hosed halfway through this Champions League semi-final.
Werner squandered a couple of excellent chances before he was hauled off soon after the hour mark.
Chelsea are favourites now to advance to next month’s final in Istanbul.
They possessed greater energy and ingenuity than Real, often making the 13-time European champion look what they were - an ageing side.
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While Chelsea painted themselves as reluctant participants in that European Super League scheme, Real president Florentino Perez was the ringmaster of the whole circus and has been suffering from the delusion that the plot isn’t over.
On the pitch, though, Real have been grounded in pragmatic realism of late - three of their previous four fixtures having been goalless draws.
With Tuchel’s Chelsea having kept 16 clean sheets in 21 matches, you would not have billed this as a song-and-dance show. But it ended up being a lively watch, a proper game of football.
Tuchel chose an unchanged starting line-up for the first time in his Chelsea reign - sticking with the side which beat West Ham on Saturday, with the German insisting he didn’t want them to ‘over-perform’.
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That soon sounded like an almighty bluff from the German, though, as Chelsea started like the clappers.
The Blues might easily have been ahead within 10 minutes but for the timidity of Timo Werner.
Mason Mount broke, leaving Luka Modric in his wake, and centred for Pulisic to cushion a header to Werner, six yards out.
But the German’s finish had little conviction and former Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois stuck out his right boot to save.
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Still, four minutes later, Chelsea were in front, Antonio Rudiger’s perfectly-timed lobbed pass releasing Pulisic, who checked, then dribbled round Courtois and slotted between two defenders on the line.
As the rain started to lash it down, Benzema served warning with a darting run and bent a 20-yard shot which grazed the outside of the post.
Chelsea, though, were right at it. N’Golo Kante was consistently striding past Real’s stately midfield of Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos - and Ben Chilwell shot narrowly wide.
But then Real forced a corner, played it short, Marcelo swung in a cross to the back stick for Casemiro to nod it back for Eder Militao, who touched it on for Benzema.
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The finish was a thing of beautiful brutality, the Frenchman assisting himself with head down, then swivelling and ramming a volley past a stunned Edouard Mendy. Wallop.
That goal, Benzema’s 71st in the Champions League, meant that only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski have scored more in the competition.
Puddles were beginning to form on the pitch, players were slipping, with Real’s players looking as if they were competing in a wet T-shirt contest.
Chelsea were soon breaking again, though, Pulisic feeding Werner, who shot into the side-netting when he ought to have located Mount in the centre.
After the break, the tempo dropped and the quality levels sagged - Thiago Silva Rolls-Royceing it at the back for Chelsea whenever Real threatened.
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Then Zidane sent for Eden Hazard, Chelsea’s former talisman, who has struggled so badly with injury since leaving Stamford Bridge for the Bernabeu in 2019.
Simultaneously, Tuchel made triple substitution - Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Reece James on for the hapless Werner, goalscorer Pulisic and skipper Cesar Azplicueta.
It was Chelsea’s changes which made the stronger impact, injecting energy into the visiting side.
But Hazard’s craft and guile began to make a mark and Chelsea suffered a hairy moment when a Rafael Varane header from a corner deflected wide off Chilwell.
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Hazard may start back at his old playground next Wednesday and that could make a difference.
But Chelsea have the away goal and they will have the confidence to go all the way to Istanbul.
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