Real Madrid lost 1-2 against Chelsea in the final matchday of the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage. Below are my thoughts and views on the match.
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Real Madrid XI
Chelsea XI
Substitutions
Misa started on goal. Lakrar and Méndez made up the CB duo. Shei and Olga started as fullbacks. It was a 4-4-2 with four midfielders - Angeldahl operating on the wide right-hand side, and Toletti-Weir-Leupolz midfield. Bruun and Caicedo led the line.
Las Blancas started the match on a strong note. In the second minute of the encounter, Weir shot on target from the entrance of the penalty area after a recovery by Angeldahl at the touchline on the right. It was easily caught by Hampton. However, the game became balanced quickly after.
Kaptein was pressing on Lakrar since the beginning. She had a few close calls, but until 36’ Lakrar handled it well. In the 36th minute, Kaptein’s press made the French CB focus on the wrong side and Guro Reiten swept in to recover the ball inside the penalty area. There was a shot taken but blocked by the defensive line and out of danger.
7’: GOAL (1-0) by Caroline Weir: The action started and finished by the Scot. Weir had the ball in the middle and opened up the play by passing to Olga on the left. She beat Lucy Bronze there to go inside while Caicedo went wide to receive Olga’s pass. Linda then gave it to Weir at the entrance of the box who then shot. The ball initially hit the crossbar but it went back inside in a curved trajectory.
The centerbacks playing on their preferred sides, with Lakrar on the right, made a lot of difference, especially in the communication between the two. The first half was defensively stable, aside from a couple of individual fails which would be followed by a collective effort to quickly stop the danger.
All in all a solid first half, balanced play between the two teams.
Sonia Bompastor subbed on Catarina Macario for Mayra Ramírez at halftime. From the start of the second half, Macario went on to attack. In the first 5 minutes, she led two actions, one of which was a goal annulled for offside and the second one she went 1-on-1 against Misa where Misa came victorious in the duel.
However, this “luck” against Macario didn’t last long as Olga gave away a penalty fouling the player in the 50’. Macario made no mistake to equalize.
Only 5 minutes later, Chelsea wins another penalty kick for Olga’s handball. Macario again with the same unsavable shot to make it 1-2 for the Blues.
In 60’ Feller and Redondo got on for Caicedo and Bruun. An unnecessary position-for-position substitution while Angeldahl was still stuck playing on the wing. Feller went to play on the right wing while Angeldahl switched to the left. With Athenea getting subbed on in 73’ for Toletti, it looked like the formation could be back to the usual 4-2-3-1. However, that lasted for only a few minutes.
It was back three in the build-up toward the end, with Leupolz joining the CBs who also switched sides mid-game. Angeldahl somewhere along the line switched to the right again while Feller joined Redondo at the front. Shei would go inside a lot and switch with Angeldahl so the Swede would gravitate wide again. With this setup, the team was prone to mistakes and Chelsea got a few counterattacks from them in the last 10 minutes of the game.
In 84’ Feller won a freekick which was taken by Weir. She took a direct shot which ended just over the goal. Three minutes later, Beever-Jones was about to got 1-on-1 vs Misa but Lakrar had the pace to make a tackle and clear the ball. If she had come a second later, that could’ve been an easy chip shot over the goalkeeper.
The second loss in the Champions League, both against Chelsea. This time a disappointing one as Las Blancas just missed out on the first place in the group. Next stop - quarter finals!