London: Chelsea reached their first Champions League final since 2012 owing to a 3-2 win on aggregate as goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount secured a 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in their semifinal second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Madrid, who welcomed back captain Sergio Ramos, controlled possession from kickoff without creating a chance or posing any possible threat. Whereas, Chelsea missed a host of chances from the beginning.
Werner would have given Chelsea the lead on 18 minutes when he tapped home from Ben Chilwell’s cross but it was ruled off for offside. Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy also pulled off a superb save to deny French forward Karim Benzema when he managed to get a shot off from the edge of the box.
Chelsea took the lead on 28 minutes when Kai Havertz, played in by N’Golo Kante, saw his dinked effort over Thibaut Courtois rebound off the bar and Werner was there to head home the rebound from close range. Benzema again forced Mendy into a good save with a header following some good play by Luka Modric.
Thomas Tuchel’s men continued to create chances with Mason Mount and Kante messing a lot of chances while Christian Pulisic came on for Werner on 67 minutes. He kept his cool when played through and passed a ball to Mount, who smashed the ball home from close range hence closing the tie for his team.
“We deserved to win. The first half was difficult; they had a lot of possession and made us suffer,” Tuchel said. “In the second half, we could have scored so much earlier, so much more to be safe, but now is no time for criticism. It is a fantastic achievement and big congratulations to the team. It is not done yet. We want to go all the way; we arrive in Istanbul to win.”
On the other hand, Manchester City won against Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on Wednesday in the second leg semifinal and 4-1 on aggregate.
