This was not a performance that would have embarrassed Todd Boehly, but the result ended any hope of a Hollywood ending to his first season as Chelsea co-owner and meant the American billionaire can no longer look forward to Champions League nights at Stamford Bridge next term.
Boehly watched from his box as Chelsea once again missed a host of good chances and then conceded two second-half goals, scored by Real Madrid forward Rodrygo, that pretty much ended the Blues’ season and secured the holders’ place in the semi-finals.
At least Chelsea went out of this competition with some dignity, but, in the bottom half of the Premier League table, the club can now look forward to fighting for a top-half finish and not much more over their remaining games.
Boehly and his co-controlling owner Behdad Eghbali, on the advice of co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, replaced Graham Potter with Frank Lampard to try to save Chelsea’s season but this was his fourth straight defeat as caretaker head coach.
Lampard, of course, cannot shoulder the blame for the way Chelsea’s season has unravelled and the pressure on Boehly and Eghbali to get the appointment of the club’s next permanent head coach right is now even greater.
The owners and sporting directors must also give serious consideration to which players of Chelsea’s bloated squad they will attempt to move on, with the club needing to sell players as quickly as possible to help balance the books with no Champions League income to look forward to next season.
The way in which Stamford Bridge emptied after Rodrygo walked in his and Real’s second goal with 10 minutes remaining should act as a warning that Chelsea fans will vote with their feet if things do not quickly improve.
There were a smattering of boos at the full-time whistle, but thousands of supporters had already made an early dash for the tube by that point and it was left to the Real players to celebrate on the Stamford Bridge pitch in front of their delighted fans.
The size of the task facing Lampard and his Chelsea players ahead of kick-off was summed up by the fact that, ahead of this second leg, Real had progressed from 18 of the 19 Champions League ties in which they had won the first leg by two or more goals. Now make it 19 from 20.
With Chelsea needing to score at least twice, Lampard surprisingly only started with one attacker on the pitch as Kai Havertz led the line and Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, Mykhaylo Mudryk and Christian Pulisic all had to settle for places on the substitutes’ bench.
Lampard deployed Conor Gallagher and N’Golo Kanté as two advanced midfielders behind Havertz to try to win the ball back high up the pitch, and the move worked for the opening 20 minutes.
Kanté wasted a glorious opportunity to give the home side an 11th minute lead, when a Reece James cross was not properly cleared and dropped straight to his feet inside the area. But the Frenchman fired wide and Lampard raised his hands to his head in disbelief on the touchline. That was to become a familiar pose during another frustrating evening.
James controlled a Havertz cross with his arm in the Real penalty area, before the Spaniards finally offered a threat of their own in the 20th minute, when Rodrygo struck the outside of Kepa Arrizabalaga’s left-hand post from a tight angle.
Rodrygo produced a lovely piece of skill to create the space to find Vinicius Junior on the left with a short pass and the Brazilian fired a powerful shot straight at Kepa.
Thibaut Courtois had received anything but a warm welcome back to Stamford Bridge, but the former Chelsea goalkeeper produced a huge save on the stroke of half-time to stop the Blues going in at the break ahead.
James found the ball in space on the right and picked out Marc Cucurella unmarked at the back post. The defender seemed certain to score, but Courtois spread his giant frame brilliantly to save the effort.
The Real players raced to congratulate Courtois, who could not stifle a smile as the Chelsea fans continued to chant obscenities at him as he left the pitch for half-time.
Just as be could not believe Cucurella had not scored just before the break, Lampard was left dumbfounded that Chelsea squandered another opportunity seven minutes after the restart, when Gallagher managed to win a header that dropped at the feet of Kante but his shot was deflected out for a corner.
Just a couple of minutes later, Lampard and his staff were angered by the fact Eder Militao was not shown a second yellow card for a foul on Trevoh Chalobah that earned Chelsea a free-kick. Ashley Cole was so incensed by the officiating that he was warned by the fourth official that he could be sent to the stands and the ex-left-back had to be calmed down by Joe Edwards.
Any hope of a miraculous comeback was killed just before the hour mark, when Chelsea were caught out at the back. A ball out of the Real defence left Chalobah trying to catch Rodrygo on the right. He dived in and the Real forward raced away before producing a pass across the penalty area that was intended for Karim Benzema but found Vinicius. Rodrygo moved his way into the middle and Vinicius passed the ball back for him to stroke into the net.
Lampard responded by making a treble substitution with Felix, Mudryk and Sterling replacing Gallagher, Cucurella and Enzo Fernández. He later sent on Mason Mount, but Rodrygo walked in a late second goal and a large section of the Chelsea fans walked out of Stamford Bridge. They will not care that they did not see Mudryk waste a late opportunity.
