Craig Burley said Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr caused a lot of problems for Chelsea because Wesley Fofana was left isolated on the right side of their defensive half in the first leg.
Vinicius was deservedly named the man of the match in this game after playing a big part in both of Real Madrid’s goals in the 2-0 win.
The Brazil international’s movement led to Karim Benzema’s opener in the first half and he assisted Marco Asensio’s second-half strike.
He did a lot more than these, however.
Fofana and Reece James were dribbled past a combined five times in the 90 minutes and four of which were by Vinicius.
According to Burley, the Real Madrid winger had an easy time because of James’ positioning.
“In some sense, [Chelsea] are lucky that particularly Vinicius Jr didn’t punish them more,” Burley told ESPN FC.
“I think it was actually too easy for Real Madrid at times.
“In the first half, when Reece James was pushing forward from the wing-back position, they were leaving Fofana isolated on the right side of the three.
“He [Fofana] picked up an early booking, and Vinicius was able to get him on one-on-one quite a few times.”
James had a surprisingly poor game for a player who is arguably among one of the most consistent performers for Chelsea in the last few years.
The England international won just three of 10 duels and was very ineffective offensively apart from the one cross he put in for Raheem Sterling.
Fofana, on the other hand, did relatively well given, as Burley pointed out, was on a yellow card for the majority of the game.
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