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REAL MADRID CRUISED into the Champions League semi-finals with a 2-0 win against Chelsea on Tuesday that wrapped up an emphatic 4-0 aggregate triumph, effectively ending the struggling London club’s season.
The home team, with Frank Lampard back in the dugout for a second spell, came into the match at Stamford Bridge with form and history against them.
They started brightly, playing enterprising football, but rued two huge missed chances in the first half that would have heaped pressure on the defending champions.
The Spanish giants made Chelsea pay for their profligacy when Rodrygo scored in the 58th minute and he doubled his tally with 10 minutes to go.
Chelsea, the 2021 European champions, have now lost all four of their matches since Lampard returned to the club as caretaker boss earlier this month in place of the sacked Graham Potter.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti stuck with the same team that won the first leg 2-0 last week while Chelsea caretaker boss Lampard restored Reece James, Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante to his line-up.
Roared on by an expectant crowd despite their current woes, the home side made a bright start against the 14-time winners.
They had a glorious chance to take the lead but Kante skewed his left-foot shot wide from about 12 yards.
The visitors, content to bide their time, looked sharp on the break.
Midway through the opening period Rodrygo created space for himself and thumped an effort against the outside of the post from an acute angle, though goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga may have had it covered.
Luka Modric tested Kepa with a shot from an angle and five minutes before half-time Vinicius Junior skewed a shot wide from close range after a cross from the Croatia midfielder.
But Chelsea should have been ahead on the stroke of half-time when Reece James fizzed a ball across the box from the right and it fell to Marc Cucurella at the back post.
The defender took a touch and shot but Thibaut Courtois came flying out of his goal to save.
Kante had another golden opportunity to take the lead early in the second half but his close-range effort hit Eder Militao and deflected away to safety.
Real took the wind out of Chelsea’s sails with just over half an hour to go, when Rodrygo scored from close range after an assist by Vinicius.
Lampard made a number of attacking subsitutions, bringing on Raheem Sterling, Joao Felix and Mykhailo Mudryk in a desperate bid to get back into the match.
But Rodrygo found the net again in the 80th minute, tapping home after a clever assist from Federico Valverde.
Real Madrid will likely play Manchester City in the semi-finals, with Pep Guardiola’s team 3-0 up against Bayern Munich after the first leg of their last-eight tie.
But Chelsea are contemplating the final weeks of a disastrous campaign despite a staggering spend of more than €600 million in the first year of the club’s new ownership.
Already out of both domestic cups, they are languishing in 11th place in the Premier League and look unlikely to qualify for European football next season.
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Permanently deleted my FB account last November and it was the best thing I did. I felt it was a complete waste of my time and was becoming more and more of a negative place. Now it’s great when I meet people cause I don’t know everything about them and makes for great conversation.
@Nollaig Elliot: The alternative is to be friends on FB with your actual friends! As opposed to the 500 or so that you had!
@James Mahon: Very true James, it got out of hand though. I traveled a fair bit over the years and it was convenient. However, after I finished a big trip last year it was always my plan to pull the plug then.
@James Mahon: Totally agree. Did a big cull of my FB “friends ” recently and it’s great.
Think it’s a good place for joining groups that have similar interests etc.
@Nollaig Elliot: I find it very useful to follow interests of mine, get notified of events I might be interested in and get access to news which might otherwise not cross my path.
I do know of people who use it to post a lot of what I would consider useless information but that’s their choice and I can easily avoid that if I want!
Bottom line is it’s a communication tool and how you use it is up to you.
@Nollaig Elliot: I did something similar, last november it was so bad, i have under 20 US facebook friends yet all their posts were saturating my timeline so i turned off all post notifications and have opened the app about 4 times since then to reply to some things that are commented on in my posts taken from twitter and youtube, i use facebook messenger frequently and because that’s a separate app i don’t have to worry about seeing stupid posts from people anymore.
About as arbitrary as The Journals rules so…
I’d love to see the Guardian’s moderation policy.
‘If you’re not of liberal persuasion do not enter this site’
In most cases trolls are ridiculed and put down by decent people on forums such as Facebook. A self censoring mechanism that we have in society already. The problem like they have now in Germany is that when governments get involved they usually infringe on free speech. A slippery slope indeed.
Suckerburg and his cronies support hate speech. That is a fact.
Deleted Facebook yesterday.Best thing EVER!!!!but I’ve nowhere to post or tell people so il post it here on a Facebook article
@The Magnificent Hog: It is not a personal thing, it just makes money.
Facebook is a private commercial entity they can do as they please. It’s a very successful business model that works. Some people have the mind set that it’s a public service.
@Baz Breen: No commercial entity can do as they please all are bound by the laws of each and every country they operate in. Facebooks private policy etc etc is irrelevant if it violates the law, or a persons human right, which is why they are so careful as indeed is the Journal no one is exempt,
Animal abuse is ok by facebook. you know what to do facebook users – delete ur account.
The guardian reported this earlier this morning, breaking news from the journal
@Jonny:
The article mentions the fact that the Guardian published this yesterday.
This one’s an exclusive for people who only read the Journal.
Off topic but Edward Snowden said that if you want privacy then you need to throw away all your devices and start living in a cave.
Delete your Facebook and stop shoving those screens into your babies faces
@The Grand O’Malley: there are techniques to maintaining privacy on Facebook and not just through privacy settings.
Perhaps the Journal could be just as clear in explaining why it bans people…???
There is life and there is Facebook.
Be careful what you say on facebook. I got a three day ban on facebook for calling someone an idiot. Plenty of snowflakes on facebook. Facebook is getting pathetic each day
@Just Some Guy: I feel your pain. Not being able call peole “idiots” is such an impairment of freedom of expression. Calling people “idiots” helps them to accept their errors. It is a highly effective and persuasive technique and develops a point very nicely.
@Tony Daly: Very true, I’ve also had posts deleted because someone with a delicate disposition found them offensive. Whips & chains I could understand, maybe even blood and guts, but mention anything about a certain Middle Eastern religion and certain people loose their collective minds… Incidentally I didn’t say a word.
The main issue with Facebook and its content is who views it. Pictures of difficult or upsetting themes are good as they are thought provoking . The issue is too many children lie about their age and view images not suitable for them
i got banned 3 times fro speaking the truth about certain people
have your say