The first leg of this contest rather felt like Champions League against Conference League, such was the gulf between the two teams. Indeed that distance was all the more apparent because Madrid did not play that well and Chelsea did not commit any great errors until Ben Chilwell was sent off in the second half.
Chelsea: As has so often been the case, Chelsea's on-field issues have been overshadowed by events off the pitch, in the dressing room to be precise.
Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior: It is surely a matter of when, not if, Vinicius enters the conversation for football's biggest individual prizes.
Real Madrid might be masters of the comeback when that is what is required but they are no less effective at killing off ties when they are in the ascendancy.
LONDON -- It has been on the horizon for months now, but at long last Chelsea are free from the suffocating pressure of stakes. It is mid-April, there are seven games left in the Premier League
Last season, Thomas Tuchel's side played as many games as any top club in Europe, reaching two domestic finals, rarely playing a game that did not carry some profound weight.