Real sails into semi-finals with 4-0 aggregate victory over Chelsea

LONDON: Defending champion Real Madrid sailed into the Champions League semi-finals after Rodrygo’s double secured a 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday for a 4-0 aggregate victory over a struggling Chelsea.

Trailing 0-2 after the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Chelsea had its moments but failed to take the chances in the opening half and at the start of the second. The home team was eventually made to pay as Rodrygo sent the Spanish heavyweight through – the Brazilian opened the scoring in the 58th minute and tapped the ball in again in the 80th to spark a mass exodus of Chelsea fans.

N’Golo Kante came close to cutting the deficit twice while Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, a former Chelsea player, made a crucial save just before the interval. And when Rodrygo finished off a sweeping counter-attack, there was no way back for the English Premier League club, which has lost all four matches since the appointment of Frank Lampard as interim manager.

The closing stages were almost academic and Real turned on the style with Federico Valverde teeing up Rodrygo’s second goal. The Chelsea fans cranked up the volume more in hope than expectation from the kick-off and the host almost got the perfect start when Kante bounced a volley wide after Reece James set him up with a cross. Real was content to play a containing game but still looked capable of killing the tie whenever it moved forward and Rodrygo smashed a shot against the outside of the post.

Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga did enough to prevent a Vinicius Jr. strike from going in and later saved a shot from Luka Modric. A Chelsea goal before half-time would have energised the mood and it almost arrived in stoppage time. James fizzed a ball across the area and Marc Cucurella looked poised to score, only for Courtois to smother the Spaniard’s shot brilliantly.

Kante’s deflected effort went agonisingly wide early in the second half and that proved Chelsea’s last hope. Rodrygo skipped past Trevoh Chalobah’s wild lunge and his cross eventually was played back to him by Vinicius for the first goal.

Real broke Chelsea’s defence again as Rodrygo delivered the knockout blow by hitting into an empty net.

Milan reaches last-four

AC Milan reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 16 years, after surviving a barrage of pressure from Napoli in Naples, thanks to a first-half goal from Olivier Giroud that secured a 1-1 draw and 2-1 aggregate success.

Napoli battled till the end but could not break down the resilient Milan defence until Victor Osimhen equalised three minutes into second half stoppage time with a bullet header. But, it was too late as the referee ended the match seconds later.

RESULTS:

Quarter-finals:

Second leg: Chelsea 0 lost to Real Madrid 2 (Rodrygo 58 & 80) (Real won 4-0 on aggregate); Napoli 1 (V Osimhen 90) drew with AC Milan 1 (O Giroud 43) (Milan won 2-1 on aggregate)