Chelsea vs Real Madrid score, result, highlights as Rodrygo double seals Champions League semi final place

Dom Farrell

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Chelsea vs Real Madrid score, result, highlights as Rodrygo double seals Champions League semi final place image

Rodrygo Goes fired Real Madrid into the Champions League semifinals with both goals on the night at Stamford Bridge as the holders eased to a 4-0 aggregate victory.

N'Golo Kante and Marc Cucurella passed up a glorious first-half chance as Chelsea sought to overturn a 2-0 quarterfinal deficit from last week's first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Kante then saw Eder Militao make a magnificent block in the goalmouth as Frank Lampard's side looked to ramp up the pressure early in the second half, but Rodrygo found a pair of close-range finishes to punish their profligacy.

Chelsea focused their attacks down the flanks, with right wing-back Reece James particularly prominent. The England international's early centre towards Kai Havertz broke for Kante, who pulled a bouncing ball wastefully wide.

Chelsea vs Real Madrid final score

  Fulltime (aggregate) 
CHE 0 (0)
RMA 2 (4)

Goals:
RMA — Rodrygo Goes (Vinicius Junior) — 58th minute.
RMA — Rodrygo Goes (Federico Valverde) — 80th minute.  

Lineups:

Chelsea (5-4-1, right to left): 1-Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK) — 24-Reece James, 33-Wesley Fofana, 6-Thiago Silva, 14-Trevoh Chalobah, 32-Marc Cucurella (15-Mykhailo Mudryk) — 7-N'Golo Kante, 5-Enzo Fernandez (17-Raheem Sterling), 8-Mateo Kovacic, 23-Conor Gallagher (11-Joao Felix) — 29-Kai Havertz (19-Mason Mount)

Real Madrid (4-3-3, right to left): 1-Thibaut Courtois (GK) — 2-Dani Carvajal (6-Nacho Fernandez), 3-Eder Militao, 4-David Alaba (22-Antonio Rudiger), 12-Eduardo Camavinga — 15-Federico Valverde, 8-Toni Kroos (19-Dani Ceballos), 10-Luka Modric — 21-Rodrygo Goes, 9-Karim Benzema (18-Aurelien Tchouameni), 20-Vinicius Junior

MORE: Champions League bracket 2023: Path to final for all teams

Rodrygo showed quick feet to engineer space outside Trevoh Chalobah and test the upright and another fine piece of individual play led to Luka Modric forcing a save from Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Madrid's best chance of the first half came from a delicious Modric cross that Vinicius Junior failed to make clean contact with under pressure from Wesley Fofana. 

In stoppage time, another James cross evaded Kante but teed up Cucurella's big moment, although Thibaut Courtois closed the angles superbly.

The flaw of the tireless Kante being Chelsea's main penalty-box threat was again exposed when Militao's block denied the France midfielder from close range before Madrid dished out a lesson in clinical attacking play.

Rodrygo darted in from the right wing and embarrassed Chalobah, who flung himself into a rash challenge. His low cross went beyond Karim Benzema but Vinicius returned possession to his compatriot to prod home.

Lampard sent on attacking firepower in the form of Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk but Madrid retained the greater cutting edge as Federico Valverde's sublime touch scattered the Chelsea defence with 10 minutes remaining and Rodygo enjoyed another simple finish.

How many Champions League goals does Rodrygo have?

He might be the least-celebrated of Madrid's much-vaunted from three but Rodrygo is developing a useful habit of scoring big Champions League goals. The 22-year-old’s brace in west London took him to 17 in Europe's top competition and plenty of those have come at critical times.

An equaliser forced extra time against Chelsea in last season's quarterfinals and a dramatic late brace inspired the remarkable comeback against Manchester City, who will meet Madrid at the same stage this time around if they are able to finish the job from 3-0 up against Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

Romelu Lukaku question looms for shot-shy Chelsea

Another defeat and the same old story for Chelsea. This was an improvement on Saturday's risible 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion, but Conor Gallagher's deflected strike in that game remains the Blues' only goal in their past six games. It probably wasn't enough to justify Gallagher being cast in the role of support attacker here.

Lampard's decision to pack the midfield and hammer Madrid down the flanks created enough chances. But when those opportunities fall to the likes of Kante and Cucurella as Sterling, Mudryk and Felix kick their heels on the bench, it highlights a club that has got itself into an implausible muddle.

For all of the Boehly millions spent, there was not a striker in the building. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not made the Champions League squad; Romelu Lukaku is still a Chelsea player and closing in on a Champions League semifinal on loan at Inter Milan. A summer refit under a new manager and with reset financial horizons due to the lack of Champions League football must surely take him into account.

Valverde vindicates Ancelotti's Casemiro call

If you're going to break up the most successful midfield in Champions League history, you'd better have a good reason for doing so. Casemiro left Madrid for Manchester United and has been a transformative presence at Old Trafford. His absence has cleared a space for Valverde to step up from utility man to starting midfielder alongside the masterful Modric and Toni Kroos.

As Chelsea pushed Madrid back during the first half, Valverde's sharpness in transitions meant the visitors were always a threat and their lethal front three were never isolated. His glorious assist for Rodrygo was the icing on the cake. Like the men playing alongside him, Valverde deserves to be considered among the finest midfielders in the world.

MORE: Champions League top goal scorers 2022/23: Updated golden boot rankings as Erling Haaland leads

Chelsea vs Real Madrid live updates, highlights from the Champions League quarter final

Final: Chelsea 0-2 Real Madrid (0-4 aggregate)

Ceballos looks to add some salt to the wounds but it's a routine save for Kepa and that's that. Real Madrid did that thing where they suggest the opposition are in a tie before emphatically slamming the door. Rodrygo added to his collection of crucial Champions League goals and Manchester City or Bayern Munich lie in wait in the semis for the 14-time winner.

88th minute: Mudryk darts through and then hooks horrible wide when faced with Courtois. It's offside, so wouldn't have counted, but seems to encapsulate Chelsea's dire problems in front of goal pretty well.

87th minute: Vinicius Jr. looks to add further punishment. Kepa stands firm to save the one-on-one. The offside flag goes up, but it was close.

82nd minute: Nacho replaces Carvajal for the dying embers.

80th minute: GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!! Rodrygo Goes!!!!

That'll be that and it's a thing of beauty from Madrid. Vinicius plays the ball to the on-rushing Valverde, whose delicious first touch leaves the Chelsea defence in tatters. He cuts across goal and Rodrygo has a simple finish for his second of the night.

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77th minute: Mount replaced Havertz for Chelsea, with Ceballos allowing Kroos' weary legs a rest.

76th minute: Mudryk involved at both ends, first tearing back to rob Vinicius and then firing wildly over from range after an admittedly delicious first touch.

74th minute: Lovely, composed attacking move from Madrid and the travelling fans have broken into "oles".

71st minute: Off comes Benzema, who has been short of his best tonight. Tchouameni will come on to bolster the Madrid midfield.

70th minute: A brief VAR check because Havertz wants a penalty. It's brief because it was not a penalty.

68th minute: Sterling quickly into his work in the Madrid box. The ball breaks to James, whose shot is deflected behind. Madrid deal with the corner.

67th minute: Here come the cavalry. Joao Felix, Sterling and Mudryk on for Gallagher, Fernandez and Cucurella.

64th minute: Fernandez tries his luck from distance and Courtois, once again, is equal to the task.

60th minute: Gallagher looks for an instant response but shoots at Courtois.

58th minute: GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!! Rodrygo Goes!!!!

It's a trademark sucker punch from Real Madrid and that is surely that. The Brazil winger charges in from the right as Chalobah desperately slides in. His low cross is past Benzema but Vinicius Jr. plays it back to his compatriot to prod in from close range.

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57th minute: Twinkled-toed from Havertz, who gets a shot away just inside the box. He can't get enough purchase on it though and Courtois saves.

56th minute: Now Kroos goes sliding in with an uncharacteristically rash challenge on Kovacic. It's all getting a bit spicy.

55th minute: James' free-kick is nodded clear by Benzema but he picks up the loose ball and finds Fernandez, who drags a daisy-cutter wide from 30 yards. 

54th minute: Well, well. Militao in the thick of it again. He fouls Chalobah. It's a bit of a scruffy one and he's on a yellow. Referee Daniele Orsato gives him a final warning.

52nd minute: Militao makes a couple of brilliant blocks! First the thwarts Havertz's cross and then gets in the way bravely as Kante tries to hook home a loose ball from close range.

50th minute: Madrid are winning a succession of free-kicks to make the start of this half pretty scrappy. James is booked for impeding Camavinga, which means he will miss the first leg of the semi if Chelsea are somehow able to pull this off.

48th minute: Chelsea deal with Krooos' delivery.

47th minute: Vinicius Jr cannily draws a foul from Wesley Fofana. An early chance for Rudiger to make his presence felt.

46th minute: We're back underway, with ex-Chelsea defender Rudiger into the action in place of Alaba for Madrid.

Halftime: Chelsea 0-0 Real Madrid (0-2 aggregate)

Chelsea are still in this tie but might well rue those missed opportunities from Kante and, just now, Cucurella. Despite Lampard's robust starting XI, Madrid's threat on the break has still been very apparent, with Rodrygo hitting the most and Vinicius Jr testing Kepa. See you back here for some more shortly.

45th minute+1: Massive save from Courtois! Again Chelsea's lack of penalty box expertise lets them down. James whips in a low ball that a sliding Kante can't reach. It falls to Cucurella on the corner of the six yards box, who takes a touch and cracks goalwards. But Courtois narrows the angle and saves brilliantly.

45th minute: There'll be two additional minutes at the end of an absorbing first half. 

43rd minute: Madrid defend Chelsea's latest ineffective corner and Valverde turns on the afterburners. The Uruguay midfield chews up the turf and gets into the Chelsea box. He chips over to Benzema at the far post, who can't get his volley on target.

41st minute: Big chance for Vinicius Jr! Modrid gets in down the right flank and whips in a glorious cross. All Vinicius needs to do is make a clear contact but he shins wide under pressure from Fofana.

39th minute: James is still out there and Kante gets around the outside of him down the right to win a corner off Camavinga.

38th minute: Modric gets into a nice position in the final third. He tries to thread a pass through to Vinicius Jr. James gets back to block and clear the danger but the England international looks like he might have injured his hamstring. He's been absolutely integral to Chelsea's approach. This could be a massive blow.

36th minute: Lovely exchange between James and Kante allowed the wingback to fire in a dangerous low cross that a sprawling Alaba clears.

32nd minute: Beautiful feet from Modric, who sashays into the Chelsea box and fashions room outside Thiago Silva to blast goalwards. Kepa saves and Chelsea deal with the corner.

31st minute: Gallagher heads over after Cucurella knocks back across goal from Havertz's flick-on. The offside flag rightly went up but that's another demonstration of how well Chelsea are getting forward into the Madrid box and how badly the personnel on the field might finish when they get there.

29th minute: Kante and Fernandez get forward to join Havertz in the Madrid box. Cucurella blooters a cross over the three of them. 

27th minute: Lovely combination play from the Madrid front three ends with Vinicius gliding inside from the left and hitting a shot at Kepa.

25th minute: Gallagher floats one from he Chelsea left to the far post. Camavinga shows good awareness and lets it sail out for a goal kick. He gets a pat on the back from David Alaba.

23rd minute: Chelsea attack down the Madrid left, the ball is half cleared and Silva side-foots a volley into Courtois' arms. Not the sort of goal attempt anyone really expected. Eder Militao might have a problem but it looks like he's going to limp on.

19th minute: Rodrygo hits the post! Madrid's first effective attack ends with Rodrygo engineering some space outside Chalobah and walloping a right-footed shot against the outside of Kepa's near post. A huge warning for Chelsea and a reminder, if it were needed, of their precarious position in this tie.

17th minute: After a disappointing Chelsea corner, Cucurella picks out Silva, who has remained in the opposition box. He nods towards Havertz in the centre of goal and Carvajal smartly chests back to his goalkeeper.

15th minute: Another couple of teasing crosses from James, who is far more advanced than Madrid and Vinicius allowed him to be at the Santiago Bernabeu last week. The Brazil winger even comes back for a rare piece of defensive work.

11th minute: Huge chance for N'Golo Kante!!! James drives in a cross that Havertz attacks at the near post. The bouncing ball breaks to Kante and he drags horribly wide left-footed. Given the situation in the tie, Chelsea can't be passing up those sort of opportunities.

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9th minute: An uncharacteristic giveaway from Modric gives Gallagher a chance to pick a pass into the area. He fails o do so, but that's a moment to encourage Chelsea

7th minute: Howling boos for former Chelsea goalkeeper Courtois as he's rushed into a poor clearance.

6th minute: Silva treads on Benzema's foot when landing after an aerial challenge. Let's call that accidentally on purpose.

3rd minute: Eduardo Camavinga tucks in to his natural position of central midfield from left-back. That's a handy card for Madrid to be able to play, with Chelsea clearly trying to outnumber them in central areas.

1st minute: Gallagher gets us underway. The initial indications are that he and Kante will be the midfielders highest up the field supporting Havertz. Feels like there'll be a lot of creative onus on the wingbacks James and Cucurella, but they will have the small matter of Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo darting in behind them.

4 mins from kickoff: The teams are in the tunnel. Two modern greats in Thiago Silva and Karim Benzema are ready to lead them out. Three days on from a limp afternoon against Brighton, a raucous atmosphere is ripping around Stamford Bridge.

15 mins from kickoff: Former Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who is back at the club as part of Lampard's coaching staff, is giving the Blues' defensive unit for tonight a rollicking talking to. Some pep talk.

20 mins from kickoff: This is the third consecutive year these clubs have met in the knockout rounds. Chelsea prevailed in a 2021 semifinal before Madrid outlasted them in a 2022 quarterfinal thriller. The winners of each tie went on to lift the trophy.

40 mins from kickoff: Between them, the Chelsea starting XI have scored just 17 goals this season. Havertz might be short of his best form right now - in the Stamford Bridge room he is hardly alone - but accounts for the majority of those with nine.

Kai Havertz
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1 hour from kickoff: Okay, so Chelsea hadn't scored in their past four matches going into the weekend defeat to Brighton. And Conor Gallagher scored. Meanwhile, leading the attack is Kai Havertz and there aren't many men who've scored the winning goal in a Champions League final. But, really, for a team that goes into this second leg two goals behind, it feels like a fairly puzzling play from Lampard. Perhaps the plan is to keep it tight until the final 20 minutes and unleash the attacking talent on the bench. Goodness knows, he's left a lot on there.

1hr 20 mins from kickoff: Lampard has also gone early. Not quite Carlo early, but early. Also, while you could predict the Madrid line-up, this one... not so much.

1hr 40 mins from kickoff: That early Madrid team news drop feels emblematic of where these two clubs are at the moment. You know what you're getting with Los Blancos, right down to that fearsomely effective front six. If you're going to do anything about it, you probably need to be in a better spot than Chelsea. Frank Lampard has chopped and changed lineups and formations during his three games in interim charge. The only consistent element has been three straight defeats. It's a huge ask for the Blues to conjure anything tonight.

1 hr 55 mins from kickoff: As is their wont under Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid have announced their starting XI very early. They're unchanged from the first leg.

2 hours from kickoff: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Chelsea vs Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals. The holders hold a 2-0 advantage from last week's first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu. Whichever way you slice it, even before considering their dire current form, Chelsea need something close to a miracle. The winner of tomorrow's tie between Bayern Munich and Manchester City will await in the semifinals.

Chelsea vs Real Madrid lineups

Defender Benoit Badiashile started against Brighton but will not be involved because he was not named in Chelsea's Champions League squad. Kai Havertz was a doubt with a minor knee problem but starts as the only recognised attacker. Thiago Silva and N'Golo Kante were rested at the weekend and come back in to add experience to a misfiring Chelsea side.

Chelsea starting lineup (5-4-1, right to left): 1-Kepa Arrizabalaga (GK) — 24-Reece James, 33-Wesley Fofana, 6-Thiago Silva, 14-Trevoh Chalobah, 32-Marc Cucurella — 7-N'Golo Kante, 5-Enzo Fernandez, 8-Mateo Kovacic, 23-Conor Gallagher — 29-Kai Havertz

Chelsea subs (12): 16-Edouard Mendy, 28-Cesar Azpilicueta, 67-Lewis Hall, 30-Carney Chukwuemeka, 12-Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 19-Mason Mount, 20-Denis Zakaria, 15-Mykhailo Mudryk, 10-Christian Pulisic, 17-Raheem Sterling, 22-Hakim Ziyech, 11-Joao Felix

Karim Benzema becomes the fifth player to make 150 Champions League appearances, joining a club that only comprises Cristiano Ronaldo, Iker Casillas, Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandez.

Toni Kroos is now one of 16 players to have made 150 appearances in UEFA club competition matches. Ferland Mendy's ongoing absence means Eduardo Camavinga is likely to continue at left-back in an XI unchanged from the first leg.

Real Madrid starting lineup (4-3-3, right to left): 1-Thibaut Courtois (GK) — 2-Dani Carvajal, 3-Eder Militao, 4-David Alaba, 12-Eduardo Camavinga — 15-Federico Valverde, 8-Toni Kroos, 10-Luka Modric — 21-Rodrygo Goes, 9-Karim Benzema, 20-Vinicius Junior

Real Madrid subs (12): 13-Andriy Lunin, 26-Luis Lopez, 5-Jesus Vallejo, 6-Nacho Fernandez, 7-Eden Hazard, 11-Marco Asensio, 16-Alvaro Odriozola, 17-Lucas Vazquez, 18-Aurelien Tchouameni, 19-Dani Ceballos, 22-Antonio Rudiger, 24-Mariano Diaz

MORE: Frank Lampard & Steven Gerrard compared: Trophies, finals, managerial careers

Chelsea vs Real Madrid live stream, TV channel

  Date Kickoff time TV channel Streaming
Australia Weds, Apr. 19 05:00 AEST — Stan Sport
Canada Tue, Apr. 18 15:00 ET — DAZN
Hong Kong Weds, Apr. 19 03:00 HKT – beIN Sports Connect
India Weds, Apr. 19 00:30 IST – JioTV, Sony LIV
Malaysia Weds, Apr. 19 03:00 MYT – beIN Sports Connect
New Zealand Weds, Apr. 19 07:00 NZST — Spark Sport
Singapore Weds, Apr. 19 03:00 SGT   beIN Sports Connect
UK Tue, Apr. 18 20:00 BST BT Sport 1 BT Sport site/app
USA Tue, Apr. 18 15:00 ET Univision Fubo,
Paramount+,
ViX+, Univision Now

UK: The match will be broadcast on BT Sport 1 and streamed on BT Sport platforms.

USA: This match will be televised on Univision, with each broadcast streamed on Fubo. Paramount+ will also carry the English-language stream for subscribers, as will ViX+ in Spanish.

Canada: Every Champions League game streams live on DAZN.

Australia: Every UEFA Champions League match streams ad-free on Stan Sport, live and on demand.

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.