Real Madrid defeated Chelsea to advance to the Champions League Semifinals, while Milan defeated Napoli on aggregate

The quest for a 15th European Championship by Real Madrid continues.

Chelsea, meanwhile, is unsure of the next time it will participate in this prestigious event.

Madrid advanced to the Champions League semifinals for the 11th time in 13 seasons with a 2-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday, capping a 4-0 aggregate victory for the Spanish powerhouses.

I haven’t seen AC Milan in the Champions League semifinals since I was 16 years old. This is amazing! LET’S GO! pic.twitter.com/eAMyPw2YZY

— Caroline Salame (@caroline_salame) April 18, 2023

A determined Chelsea comeback that lasted for the better part of an hour was stopped by two goals from Rodrygo in the second half, leading to Chelsea’s fourth straight defeat under interim manager Frank Lampard.

Madrid will face either Manchester City or Bayern Munich in the next round, giving it the opportunity to continue its quest for more success in a competition it has won a record 14 times.

Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti stated, “We are ready to be there and ready to fight for the final.”

After the first leg of the quarterfinals, City had a 3-0 advantage over Bayern, likely setting up a repeat of the semifinals from the previous season. At the Bernabeu last season, Madrid scored twice in extra time and once in overtime to win 6-5 overall.

Madrid, which won the Champions League three times in a row from 2016 to 2018, is the only team to successfully defend it in its modern incarnation and is still in the running to do so once more.

It is a record that no other team can match, and the defending champions will be tough to stop with a forward line that includes Vinicius Junior, Karim Benzema, and Rodrygo in such commanding shape.

However, Chelsea’s terrible season will now end without a trophy.

After losing, Lampard was forced to answer inquiries about the future of the 2021 European champion, which had a rocky start under its new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

We’ve had so much success, so people will talk a lot about Chelsea’s season this year, Lampard predicted. The truth is that this club will return, but it will require work.

Despite spending about $630 million on new players, Chelsea is currently 11th in the Premier League and 17 points off the top four.

A team that twice won the Champions League under former owner Roman Abramovich now seems destined to not participate in the event next season.

In light of a resurgent Arsenal, a strengthening Manchester United, and a Saudi-backed Newcastle, the race for the top four is becoming more intense, complicating Chelsea’s return to the top division of European club football.

“At this point, I think it’s pretty pointless to try to predict what will happen going forward, will it be good or will it be bad,” Lampard said. But I do believe that we can lay the groundwork for our future goals right now.

The decline of Chelsea has been abrupt.

Under Thomas Tuchel’s leadership, the London club won the Champions League for the second time in its history just two years ago.

Earlier in the season, the German manager, who was very well-liked by the fans, was fired and was succeeded by Graham Potter, who experienced the same fate at the beginning of this month.

Since Lampard was hired, his team has lost four games without scoring, and their performance has not improved.

This lack of cutting edge was once again on display in Chelsea’s second leg loss to Madrid in the quarterfinals.

When there were clear opportunities to score in each half, N’Golo Kante missed them. Just before halftime, Thibaut Courtois, a former Chelsea custodian, stopped a close-range shot from Marc Cucurella.

As a result of those errors, Madrid scored twice on the break, punishing the home team.

Prior to Rodrygo’s goals, Ancelotti acknowledged his team “suffered a lot”.

In the 58th minute, the Brazil forward opened the scoring by turning in Vinicius’ cutback. In the 80th minute, he added another, this time following Federico Valverde’s assist.

If not for a shot that missed the outside of the post in the first half, he might have scored three goals.

After Rodrygo’s second goal crossed the line, a large portion of the home crowd left the stadium.

However, those who stuck around cheered at the conclusion after seeing Chelsea pressure Madrid for a sizable portion of the game.

According to Lampard, the audience seemed to enjoy today’s performance. We must seize on the possibility that they have experienced times this season when they are not feeling that way.

Milan enter semis

Olivier Giroud’s first-half goal at Napoli helped AC Milan advance to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since they won the trophy 16 years ago in spite of intense pressure on Tuesday. The result was a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 victory overall.

Victor Osimhen, a striker for Napoli, scored a thunderous header to tie the score three minutes into stoppage time, but it was too late as the referee abruptly ended the game seconds later. Despite fighting to the bitter end, Napoli was unable to penetrate the stubborn Milan defence.

After meeting on Wednesday at the San Siro with the Italian team leading 2-0 from the first leg, seven-time European champions Milan will now take on either Inter Milan or Benfica.

Milan and Napoli had played three times in as many days, with Stefano Pioli’s away team defeating the lopsided Serie A leaders 4-0 on April 2.

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