Chelsea travelled to Real Madrid to play out a 1-1 draw with the 13-time European Cup winners. It was a game of two halves, the first being a lively encounter while the second was a bit more cagey, with it being obvious that both teams wanted to play defensive.
Christian Pulisic and Karim Benzema scored two wonderful goals in quick succession in the first quarter itself, and that was all for the scoring on the night. Timo Werner missed out on a great chance to go further ahead from six yards out, and that summed up the general feeling about their performance yesterday.
“Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky and lacked composure and decision making in the opponent’s box,” he added.
“Maybe we could have decided this match very, very early in the first half an hour when we were playing so, so strong.
“It is half time and we need to fight for every centimetre and advantage that we want to have, we need to fight and to deserve it.
“We only had two days in between two away games. Those games were every demanding physically and mentally so you could feel that in the decision making and some ball losses and acceleration.
“One more day would have been great for us. Now is the challenge to enjoy a free day then forget this result. I don’t feel that we are pointing fingers. The strikers are the first guys who want to score and be decisive and to do it for themselves.”
Eden Hazard featured against his former club from the bench, and although he didn’t provide any goals or assists, it was good to see the Belgian back fit.
The Blues head into the second leg with the advantage for away goals, and giving even an inch of space to a team like Madrid could prove to be fatal. The mentality heading into the return leg in Stamford Bridge will surely be to kill the game off as soon as they can, or the wastefulness could catch up to them.
