'It's true': Thibaut Courtois now makes very honest claim about Chelsea after facing them twice
Thibaut Courtois admitted that Real Madrid were second best to Chelsea last night in their epic Champions League encounter.
As quoted by the club website, Courtois credited his former side for outperforming Madrid at the Bernabeu, despite the Blues bowling out of the competition in some style.
Chelsea claw their way back
Thomas Tuchel’s men will be feeling flat and fragile this morning after exerting so much energy yesterday for ultimately no reward.
Ahead of the game, they knew only a historic victory would seal their place in the semi-finals, following the 3-1 loss at Stamford Bridge a week ago.
Those hopes turned into optimistic glances thanks to Mason Mount’s opener after just 15 minutes.
Optimism shifted to delight in the second half, as Antonio Rudiger headed Chelsea’s second on the night, levelling the scores on aggregate.
Marcos Alonso thought he had completely flipped the tie on its head when his effort curled into the top corner, only to be denied by VAR for an adjudged handball.
But Timo Werner ensured pure delirium on the Blues bench with a quarter of an hour remaining.
The German international chinked his way past a couple of challenges, before his deflected strike nestled in the Madrid net.
Madrid are the masters of Europe
Tuchel was moments away from recording a remarkable European comeback, but Carlo Ancelotti had other ideas.
Luka Modric proved his timeless class by delivering an outside-of-the-foot assist to Rodrygo, whose first-time finish was of equal quality.
That goal sent the fixture to extra time, with Madrid arguably fortunate to have made it this far.
However, the Spaniards have not won 13 European trophies by fluke.
Karim Benzema popped up once again to thwart Chelsea, heading past Edouard Mendy for the third time across the two legs to ultimately seal the victory in Madrid’s favour.
Despite the end result, many agreed that Tuchel’s men were hard done by not to travel back to London triumphant.
“We weren’t lucky, but it’s true that they were the better team. We ultimately won the tie,” confessed Courtois, who made some important saves during the contest.
Madrid will now either face Manchester City or Atletico Madrid, whilst Chelsea must refocus their attentions on the FA Cup semi-final this Sunday.
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