Alfredo Di Stefano stadium was the place where Real Madrid got a visit from Chelsea in the Champions League. We got player ratings.
Real Madrid had a tremendous Champions League test against Chelsea at Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium this evening. Incredible amounts of pressure kept piling up due to the whole Super League drama of the previous week. The local Madrid press was scared that UEFA would do something shady with the referee during this initial match. But everything was a bluff, none of that happened as the ref did a great job throughout the 90 minutes.
The first half was far more entertaining than the second, that’s where all the action took place. Chelsea found an early goal after Christian Pulisic escaped his defenders with a couple of slick dribbles. When he got past Courtois, he took his shot past Nacho and Varane in their attempt to cover Courtois’ decision to leave his position. This goal only got the Real Madrid players more involved in the game, it served them well for the remainder of the first half.
Benzema nearly gets the win.
Still in the first half, Karim Benzema was the player that Chelsea needed to look after. The French forward is in fantastic form as he proved right after the Blues’ opening goal. He sent a beautiful shot from outside the box to the far post, that was his first warning. Not long after that, Marcelo placed a ball inside the area for Casemiro. After a few rebounds, Benzema found the opening and scored with a half bicycle kick.
This equalizer was the final result of the game, there was no real action during the second half. In good news for Real Madrid, Eden Hazard got to play more than last time and he didn’t get injured. Zidane is expecting him to play more minutes next weekend in order to get as ready as possible for his return to Stamford Bridge. But the bottom line is that Chelsea got the better result from this first match thanks to Pulisic’s opening goal.
Player ratings
Real Madrid: Courtois (8), Marcelo (7), Militao (7), Varane (6), Nacho (6), Carvajal (7), Casemiro (7), Kroos (7), Modric (7), Vinicius (7), Benzema (7).
Bench: Hazard (6), Odriozola (6), Asensio (6), Rodrygo (N/A).
Chelsea: Mendy (7), Azpilicueta (5), Silva (7), Rudiger (7), Christensen (7), Chilwell (6), Jorginho (7), Kante (8), Mount (7), Pulisic (7), Werner (4).
Bench: Havertz (6), Ziyech (6), James (6).
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