The quarter-finals round between Real Madrid and Chelsea couldn’t have possibly gone any better. When two of the biggest European clubs are fighting for a spot in the final four, the world is in for a thrilling and hard-fought series. In other words, a thriller. The results of the two matches are not what the soccer world wanted, but what they rather expected.
In Chelsea’s case, exiting the tournament as the defending champions really hurts, but Chelsea deserves major props for their excellent performance overall. Coming into the second game in a 3-1 aggregate deficit, Chelsea knew it would not be easy dealing with Real Madrid in the Spanish capital. After a bad finish in the first leg, Chelsea came into the second leg with all guns loaded and at full strength. There’s no denying Chelsea refused to go down and give up without a fight.
Make sure you check out all of our soccer coverage.
The Resiliency from Both Sides
After being embarrassed at home in the first leg, Chelsea was unwilling to suffer further humiliation in Madrid. Immediately from the get-go, Chelsea took control and wasted no time in attempting to score to erase the aggregate deficit, which they did in the 51st minute when Chelsea had a 2-0 lead.
In the 75th minute, Chelsea went up 3-0, thus making the score 4-3 on aggregate in Chelsea’s favor. Chelsea was clearly on their way to a brilliant come-from-behind victory. However, Los Blancos finally snapped out of it and put themselves on the board with ten minutes remaining in regulation. After 90 minutes, the match was not settled, thus forcing extra time. The resiliency comes from the fact that Chelsea went from being down 3-1 on aggregate to make it 4-3 in their favor. In Real Madrid’s case, their resiliency comes from pulling through late in regulation and in extra time.
Real Madrid Taking Control
When the game went into extra time, things could have gone either way. However, it was clear that both sides were under tremendous pressure at that point. Karim Benzema would score for Los Blancos six minutes into extra time, giving Real Madrid a 5-4 aggregate lead. That goal would turn out to be the decider. Chelsea had chances to score but ultimately could not capitalize. Despite surrendering their advantage, Chelsea refused to stop, thus they deserve credit for never quitting.
Chelsea was Unlucky
Despite their resiliency and great team chemistry, Chelsea was honestly very unlucky in the quarter-finals. It’s unfortunate that for all their efforts, the squad wasn’t rewarded. Regardless, they did their best and what’s important is the team never gave up despite their frustrating inability to score at the most opportune times. In addition, despite coughing up a late goal in regulation in the second leg that forced extra time, Chelsea did not let up. Chelsea gave Real Madrid everything they had every single second of both games. Real Madrid knew that would be facing a tough Chelsea squad and they did.
Check us out on our socials:
Twitter: @PTSTNews and @TalkPrimeTime
Facebook Page: Prime Time Sports Talk
Join our Facebook Group: Prime Time Sports Talk
Instagram: @primetimesportstalk
Follow Alex Al-Kazzaz on Twitter @BearManOfTX
Main Image Credit: Embed from Getty Images
