Chelsea news: Frank Lampard let down by four players vs Real Madrid as Blues made to pay | Football | Sport
Chelsea put up a stern fight against Real Madrid on Wednesday but Frank Lampard’s side, who finished the game with 10 men, were ultimately made to pay for momentary lapses in concentration at the Bernabeu. Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio came up with the goals in a 2-0 win for Los Blancos, leaving the Blues with a mountain to climb in next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg. As the dust settles on a frustrating clash for Lampard, Express Sport takes you through four players who let him down…
Wesley Fofana
Chelsea’s worst player on the night, Fofana picked up a booking inside five minutes for a late challenge on Vinicius Jr, which set the tone for the evening. The Brazilian proceeded to run the centre-back ragged throughout the first half, and Fofana got the wrong side of Vinicius just before Benzema opened the scoring.
Fofana did at least grow into the game, showing endeavour to stride out from the back and a good turn of pace to snuff out the onrushing Eduardo Camavinga, but it wasn’t a night to instil confidence in the 22-year-old and he may struggle for sleep the night before the second leg.
Ben Chilwell
Relatively anonymous for the first hour of the game, Chilwell tracked back well to deny Dani Carvajal but spurned a good early opportunity to whip a dangerous ball into the box from a wide free-kick.
The crucial moment in the England left-back’s night came in the 59th minute, however, as he committed a last-man foul by pulling back Rodrygo before being shown a red card. Although the Real Madrid man would have had a golden opportunity to score, there’s certainly a convincing case to be made for letting goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga deal with the situation and keeping all 11 players intact, even if it meant going two goals down at the time.
Joao Felix
Starting alongside Raheem Sterling up top, neither player put in a vintage display at the Bernabeu. Sterling claws his way out of Chelsea’s four worst performers on the night thanks to a sharp start, which saw him make a good run off the shoulder of the last man, only to be ignored by Felix.
The Portuguese caught the eye with an impressive turn against Eder Militao but all he offered Chelsea was fleeting moments. Just after the hour mark it was no surprise to see Lampard haul off Felix, who will surely have hoped for a better showing against Real amid his ongoing stint at bitter rivals Atletico Madrid.
Mateo Kovacic
It was always going to be a big night for Chelsea’s midfield three against generational talents Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, as well as the in-form Federico Valverde. Enzo Fernandez and N’Golo Kante both acquitted themselves fairly well, with the former exhibiting an impressive range of passing and dictating the tempo while Chelsea had possession in the first half, while Kante brought his usual tireless energy to the table.
Kovacic, meanwhile, was effectively a passenger for much of the game, struggling to affect proceedings at either end of the pitch. The Croatian will have hoped for more against his former club, having called the Bernabeu his home between 2015 and 2019.
