Immediate Reaction: Chelsea 2 - 0 Real Madrid; UWCL Group Stage

Defeat in matchday 3 for Real Madrid in London. Below are some of my notes from the match.

Firstly, here’s how Emma Hayes and Alberto Toril lined up their sides:

Grid View

• Real Madrid XI
• Chelsea XI
• Substitutes

While the line-ups did look like they looked on paper here, Real Madrid was going for a hybrid between 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 with Feller joining in Esther on the center, but from the right side instead of the left that is shown above.

• 1’: We start off with ball in our possession and we keep it until Ivana’s long pass to Olga on LW who was offside. One minute later Fran Kirby gets a shot on target which Misa saves without many problems.
• 3’: Maite makes a brilliant recovery in our third and makes a run forward by the left line, Cuthbert eventually catches her, we get a throw-in.
• 6’: Chelsea get a corner, it goes straight to the goal which Misa boxes away, the ball gets headed back to Misa’s hands. Two minutes later, Cuthbert’s intended cross from the RW turns into a direct shot over the goal. Goal kick for Real Madrid.
• In the next few minutes, Chelsea press near our box, Kaneryd makes a dribble in the box and Ivana and Olga go against her. Ivana pushes the ball just outside of the box to the left where Maite was positioned to clear it away. A bit chaotic defending which turned out looking quite organized in the end.
• 12’: There’s a cross to our box which gets headed away by Ivana and Kathellen is positioned well to save it from giving a corner kick to Chelsea.
• 16’: We get our first chance as Feller recovers the ball just outside of the rival’s box and passes to Weir inside, she goes for a shot which gets blocked giving us a corner.
• Feller’s ball shielding is very apparent at 20’. She looks very sharp in defensive work.
• 23’: Cuthbert gets a shot over the crossbar.
• 28’ Kenti gets a cross and tries to get it to Esther but Berger catches it easily.
• 33’: Kathellen fails a pass to Ivana in our backline, almost makes a fatal mistake as Kerr gets to the ball but she fails a side pass to Cuthbert who was running into the box. We barely get away.
• 35’: Esther makes a beautiful pass to Feller’s head inside the box, but Berger jumps higher and boxes it away. Moments later, Freja slams into Buchanan and Weir who was exiting the Chelsea box and trying to turn away. Chelsea get the ball.
• There is a backheel pass from Kerr in a duel with Ivana, but aside from that detail nothing much happens until the end of the first half.
• No halftime changes.
• 47’: Feller gets the ball in the middle of the pitch, shields the ball for a while until two players surround her who push the ball away from her, but Freja comes in to get the ball back.
• 49’: struggling with Chelsea’s corner as Esther stands right in front of Misa and heads the ball instead of her but the ball doesn’t make it too far, luckily Kathellen is there to clear it away.
• 52’: Amazing run from Feller as she gets the ball at around the half-way line and runs all the way to the right side of the box, outrunning Eriksson, crosses into the box to Esther but Berger boxes it not far away. Weir runs into the box but as Esther turns, she slams into Weir, they almost lose the ball, but Esther gets to it and shoots. It gets blocked, corner kick for Real Madrid.
• 56’: Chelsea substitution: James and Fleming in for Kaneryd and Kirby
• 57’: Esther gets a yellow card as she commits a foul in a jump attempting to recover a high ball.
• 63’: Real Madrid substitution: Svava in for Feller
• 67’: GOAL (1:0) - Cuthbert takes a corner from Real Madrid’s left side, directly to Bright’s head who sends it to Ingle who heads it into the net.

• 70’: Weir takes a freekick from the left side, tries to find someone in the small box but it gets pushed to the right side where Maite gets it just outside the box. A few moments later, another foul for Real Madrid and another freekick from approximately the same distance but the opposite side. A similar situation happens after Weir takes the freekick from the right. Chelsea clear it away.
• 73’: Kenti crosses to Esther, she hits it with her ribs and, during the turn, commits a foul on Buchanan.
• 75’: GOAL (2:0) - Cuthbert’s intended cross turns into a shot on target which goes in.

• 79’: Chelsea substitution: Carter in for Reiten
• 80’: Real Madrid substitution: Rocío and Nahikari in for Olga and Freja Siri.
• Formation change as Rocío becomes the third CB and Esther and Nahikari lead the attack together. There is no winger on the pitch at this point, only Svava and Kenti going more offensive on the sides.
• 83’: fatal mistake from Misa almost ends up in the goal after Chelsea shot, luckily Kathellen is positioned on the goal line to clear it.
• 85’: Svava tries to find Nahikari in her cross, but Buchanan intercepts.
• 86’: Real Madrid substitution: Toletti and Møller in for Zornoza and Esther. The formation stays intact as Møller joins Nahikari in the center.
• 88’: Chelsea get another clear chance, it hits the outside of Real Madrid’s net.
• 90’: another cross attempt by Kenti to Nahikari, but Berger catches it.
• The match ends. Complete loss of control after the first goal, Toril brought on the offensive tactic too late into the match as it was already 2:0.