Chelsea’s last hope of salvaging their season slipped away as Real Madrid completed a 4-0 aggregate victory to dump Frank Lampard’s side out of the Champions League.
Stamford Bridge was dotted with empty seats by the end of the quarter-final second leg, as it had been since Rodrygo skipped beyond Kepa Arrizabalaga and scored the second of two goals 10 minutes from time to ease the European champions through.
It was a 2-0 win for Real that, on reflection, Chelsea had never looked likely to rescue, in spite of two glorious chances either side of half-time for Marc Cucurella and N’Golo Kante.
At 0-0 on the night, they could have turned the tie in Chelsea’s favour. But over 180 minutes Real were too good for Lampard’s side, who now look destined to limp to the end of the season with nothing left to play for and an uncertain future beyond.
