Real Madrid 2-3 Chelsea: Three talking points after UCL thriller

Chelsea put on a performance for the ages on Tuesday night as the players walked off the pitch at the Santiago Bernabeu winners on the evening. It takes a truly special group to pull this off on any given occasion, much less a European night. Unfortunately, the 3-2 victory wasn’t enough to swing the tie in the reigning Champions League winners’ favor, so their title defense ends in the quarterfinal stage of the competition. The Blues gave Real Madrid everything it could handle and then some over two legs as two of the world’s best teams went toe-to-toe in the continent’s premier competition. It was football at its finest, regardless of the overall result.

The Chelsea players are hopefully all able to hold their heads up high following one of the single most impressive performances ever put on by a team in the Champions League. After being soundly beaten in the first leg at home, the Blues strolled into the Spanish capital on a mission. They made fans proud on the night, going above and beyond with their efforts to claw back into the tie, despite facing an improbable uphill battle. The relentlessness of every individual made the second leg one of the most memorable Champions League contests in recent memory. There is a lot to dissect from the match, so let’s not waste anymore time on the emotional aspect.

Here are three of the biggest talking points from the instant classic in the Spanish capital:

1. Spirit

I know, I know, I just wrote “let’s not waste anymore time on the emotional aspect,” only to kick off the lessons learnt in this match with what’s sure to be more heartfelt paragraphs. I won’t go into too much detail on how the fans feel as I plan to publish a piece later on specifically focused on that aspect of the second leg (stay up to date with The Pride of London to ensure you don’t miss that article), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t commend the team for its efforts.

Many managers have tried and failed to motivate this Chelsea team during periods of poor form. Tuchel took a different approach following the first leg against Real Madrid, which marked a second consecutive—and hefty—loss due to careless mistakes. He went on an unfiltered, genuine rant about how he needs more from his players. In the presser, he claimed that the Blues had no chance of getting back into the tie following the way they played in the 3-1 home defeat. This clearly resonated with the dressing room, invoking a response better than anything Tuchel could’ve ever hoped for. His side went out and thrashed Southampton 6-0 at St. Mary’s before departing for the Spanish capital.

Tuesday’s match represented a considerably tougher task. Yet, Chelsea came out with the same hunger that it displayed on England’s south coast just days earlier. Few truly expected the Blues to turn the tie on its head at the Bernabeu, all supporters asked is that the players showed that they gave a [redacted]. Each and every individual that put on a Chelsea shirt in the second leg exceeded those expectations. A lot can be said about the play of the team, but there was no question at full-time about each player leaving it all out on the pitch. The Blues wore their hearts on their sleeves and truly gave it everything they had for the badge. Even though they were eventually bounced from the competition, there wasn’t a Chelsea fan on the planet that wasn’t proud of the effort their side put in on Tuesday night.