Before the game, Blues captain Thiago Silva posted a video poster on social media with the caption: Even if there is only a 1% chance, there must be 99% confidence.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. In football, especially in the Champions League, there are too many classic cases of "as long as you don't give up, the game will not end". And the two figures of 99% and 1%, Real Madrid on the opposite side is the best way to say.
But when the two sides announced their starters, I suddenly had a whole new understanding of these two numbers.
Real Madrid still announced the starting line-up as before, and this time the advance time was further increased to two and a half. As a well-known player, Ancelotti's important starting lineup for every period of time anyway, 99% of Real Madrid fans can guess by looking at the players who can play in the squad.
Look at Chelsea again. Well, still three central defenders and two wingbacks. Compared to the previous game, Chalobah and Cucurella replaced the unreachable Curibaly and Chilwell. The midfield is still N'Golo Kante, Kovacic and Enzo, etc... How is there still a Gallagher? The front single arrow was replaced with Havertz again?
Five defenders + four midfielders + a pseudo-centre-forward, you ask Chelsea fans to guess the starters when they are 2-0 down on aggregate, I'm sure you're less than 1% right.
(Theoretically, the formation is 3421, but positional defense sometimes becomes like 442)
Of course, when the game started, it quickly became clear that what Frank Lampard wanted was definitely not "defence is the best attack".
The most significant difference from the first leg between the two sides is that the Chelsea players are directly full of running, speed and intensity from the start. The midfielder spares no effort to press the siege, and Enzo, who was delayed in the past, also stepped forward frequently this time. He and the Kovacic next to him, plus Kante and Gallagher in front, formed a parallelogram that constantly spread and contracted, framing the Real Madrid midfielder who was comfortable in the last game, and striving to achieve the effect of "punching the teacher to death".
Details are also targeted. In the backfield, the three central defenders still chose Forfana to play right-centre-back, avoiding the positional 0 Chalobah to face the speedy and violent Vinicius and the enchanting Benzema. After grabbing the ball in the front court, he did not grind and dribbled less, and the overall formation shifted the number of people to the left, and various consecutive kicks pushed forward. Then send the ball to the weak side on the right to play behind Camavinga, whether it is James or Kanter and Kavertz who swim over, if you can cross, you can't just play a pass and then cross at the bottom.
This arrangement has two advantages.
First, Chelsea players are indeed younger overall, longitudinally and horizontally shrinking and rebounding, even if the physical strength falls quickly, anyway, there are enough bench people, and there is not much difference in the starting strength. The second is to advance from the left and then cross from the right, and this operation of shifting positions reduces the possibility of Vinicius starting to race in place after the Real Madrid tackle compared to the previous forced fight on the right side.
The effect is also half achieved. "Teacher" was indeed a little panicked by the crazy rush, at least not as calmly as in the first round, and even Modric made many mistakes to transfer the ball directly to the opponent's feet. Chelsea had only 43 per cent possession in the first half hour, but took a 4-1 lead in shots and managed to threaten with a number of counter-tackles.
But these "messy punches" did not hit the point.
Although there seems to be no qualitative difference in the Chelsea forward line this season, it only affects the list of guns that meet after the game. But Kai Havertz's single striker keeps pulling back and pulling the side, and it is Gallagher or Kante who are replaced by a central striker, and the picture is somewhat magical... The question arises, can you stab someone to death without a gunhead?
Those good chances in the first half basically came from the routine mentioned earlier. James crossed, Kai Havertz tried his best to get forward like a centre-forward, and Kante volleyed off the right spot. After all, Kante, after all, the left foot, is not too sorry.
It's even more unfortunate that it came in half-time stoppage time. After consecutive transfers to the right, James sent another brilliant cross, Cucurella stopped the ball, adjusted, and then rushed in front of a huge Courtois.
Looking at the left-back from La Masia, Chelsea fans will surely miss the man who is playing for his parent team. Champions League fast and slow knife, you can always trust Brother Long.
After talking about the first half of Chelsea, let's talk about Real Madrid, although... There doesn't seem to be anything to say.
The 2-0 advantage is in hand, there are many veterans or a set of main players to play the world, think about how they will choose in the opening game. Compared to Chelsea, Real Madrid handled the ball with much more caution. Kroos and the two full-backs basically do not step forward, Valverde also focuses on ensuring defensive positioning, and Rodrigo is frequently returning to defense.
Of course, Real Madrid is a team that likes and is very good at playing counter-attacks. Although Modric and Benzema, who led the counter-attack, made several passes that were not very reasonable, Vinicius, who was in charge of the blast, was really not very excited. But once or twice, the threat is actually similar to Chelsea's bustle.
The second half is still a familiar taste, a familiar rhythm. Chelsea's circular attack is still noisy, with all squibs at the door. And you press so close to the formation and run so fiercely, you can't seize the opportunity to leave the opponent a chance.
When it comes to seizing counter-attacking opportunities, how many teams can compare to Real Madrid?
Militão sent in a long pass from the back, and Chalobah, as feared, once again exposed his non-existent sense of position and wrong choice of tackles. Rodrigo swept forward to bring chaos in front of the goal, then swam to the middle to score a goal.
In this process, Benzema played a role similar to that of Havertz who snatched the front point, Vinicius was about equal to Cucurella plus twelve points of calm, and Rodrigo was both James on the wing and a second striker on the running receiver. No Chelsea player can do what is lacking unless Frank Lampard on the sidelines changes into his shirt and goes back a decade.
The aggregate score was 3-0 and there wasn't much Lampard could do today. Sterling, Felix, Mudrick, the three substitutes made a change, piled up forwards, and fought for their lives. The rest of the story seems to make sense again.
Raheem Sterling would love to break through with the ball and make up for something that was missing before, but you have this passing option...
Felix broke through and changed direction very silky, this ball is worthy of the Golden Boy Award of the year, but you are a pass...
Mudrick's return to defense is very key, and he rushes to the front court in a flash and gets rid of it beautifully, but what kind of shot you have...
Hesitation will lead to defeat, decisiveness will be given for nothing. If you can't fight the execution, you will definitely be crushed next. Or Vinicius passed the inverted triangle, Valverde's every touch condensed Real Madrid's calmness and confidence in this competition, Rodrigo himself was a little embarrassed before scoring twice.
This time, Chelsea fans can't blame Mudrick and Chalobah for the same mistake, after all, he is a winger who forcibly plays as a wing-back. It's like you can't blame Thiago Silva for being slow in embarrassment, after all, he will be 39 in a few months.
There were no miracles at Stamford Bridge, with Real Madrid winning one of each of the two legs to advance 2-0 to the semi-finals. Not a good fight, at least a bloodless blade. The only regret is probably that Militão turned yellow for this game and had to be suspended for the next Champions League. The opposite side is likely to be ferocious Manchester City and cannibalistic Haaland, although there is still Rudiger is still a concern.
Coincidentally, Mudrick also received a yellow card before the end and will also be suspended for the next Champions League. But this next one is likely to be a year and a half from now, and it may be even more distant. And by that time, no one knows how much Chelsea's coach and players will change, or even what color shirt Mudrick will wear.
More than a year is enough time for a lot to happen in the world of football. Few people know as well as Chelsea fans about the ebb and flow of the short term, the great sorrow and the great joy. They watched the team rise step by step from the top to the top, and they knew that the man who brought the dream would never come back.
Along the way, I gradually became calm. It's not that I've become numb to winning and losing, I've learned to reconcile with time. Just like you always have more and more problems as you get older, there are stages when you have to shift your focus away from football. But this does not mean that the emotions that used to be weakened, because some things fall in love with for a lifetime, even if you can't say why.
You won't find the answer until the day you return, when all the memories are washed ashore. Is it Robendaf's wings flying together, or Drogba and Frank Lampard's never say die. Whether the old boy's dream comes true in Munich or Tuchel repeating the firefighting magic. Or maybe it's everything, including happiness and regret.
When you return to the Champions League, the Blues Chelsea.