Chelsea vs Real Madrid LIVE: Result and reaction from Champions League quarter-final as Blues crash out

Real Madrid show Chelsea how it’s done. The expectation after a tie of such grandeur is that would be how to regularly navigate the Champions League knock-out stages, but we’re actually talking about something as rudimentary as scoring. Real Madrid literally walked the ball into the net, as they eventually strolled into the semi-final.

It would maybe be a little harsh to say that of this entire second leg given how intensive Chelsea were for large parts, but there was always that sense the European champions could just lift it. That’s because Chelsea went another game without scoring, as they lost 2-0 to make it 4-0 on aggregate. That also made it four defeats in a row, Lampard concluding the club’s worst run of results since 1993. That alone illustrates the challenge is certainly going to be raised for Madrid in a likely semi-final against Manchester City.

At the very least, Todd Boehly couldn’t be embarrassed by this display. Frank Lampard restored a bit of pride to the early attempts. You might even say the owner’s ad hoc team talk had some effect, at least in the early stages.

Such a sentence is one of a few baffling things about Chelsea right now, not least where they are going next. The season is over. There was then how they started.

Frank Lampard is the first manager in Chelsea's entire history to lose his first four games of a managerial spell.

“I feel like we played well and had a lot of chances. But football is all about taking your chances which we didn’t do today. Of course we are going to be gutted. We haven’t got that [cutting edge] at the minute but that was definitely a big improvement on recent performances.

“We pushed players forward and Real Madrid were able to catch us a couple of times. We take it one game at a time. Hopefully we can build on the performance because I feel it was positive in a way.”

The hard-running figure on the right of the front three scored once. Then he scored again, powering his team into the Champions League semi-finals. It was almost Frank Lampard’s gameplan paying off perfectly. Except that the goalscorer was Rodrygo, the logical choice by Carlo Ancelotti, who is proof that four Champions Leagues can be won with the aid of a willingness to do the obvious.

The man on the right of Lampard’s front three, however, was N’Golo Kante. That N’Golo Kante. The one often deemed the world’s best defensive midfielder. The one with 13 goals in 266 games for Chelsea. And the one who, when granted an early chance to break the deadlock, scuffed a shot well wide in the manner of a man who had no belief he would score.

Aided by Rodrygo’s double, Real Madrid reached an 11^th Champions League semi-final in 13 seasons. Aided by the galvanising powers of a Todd Boehly team talk, Chelsea exited Europe. Perhaps they were always doomed to: from the 2-0 defeat last week, from the moment the draw was made, from the time Boehly decided to buy a football club. But there will be no redemption now: their season is a crushing, costly failure, a masterpiece of stupidity.

Chelsea failed to score in both legs of a Champions League knockout phase tie for the second time, after a 1-0 aggregate defeat against Liverpool in the 2004/05 semi-finals when Frank Lampard played in both legs.

Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde has been named Player of the Match.

Uefa’s Technical Observer Panel said: “He provided excellent balance to Real Madrid’s midfield and was composed in possession, did an excellent job defensively and gave an outstanding assist for the second goal.”

Contrasting fortunes for the Blues and the Whites.

90+3 mins: Chelsea showed signs of encouragement right up until Rodrygo netted the opening goal and then they began to slump. It was always going to be a difficult ask to score two against Real Madrid but for almost an hour the Blues made it seem possible.

Rodrygo’s brace put any hopes of a miraculous comeback out of sight and Real Madrid march on. The defending champions are into the Champions League semi-finals.

90 mins: Three minutes of added time to play. Chelsea are going to lose four successive games for the first time since 1993. That’s how poor they’ve been this season.