UEFA Champions League
Result: Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea
Date: 27 April 2021
Venue: Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano
Chelsea hold the advantage in their UEFA Champions League semi-final tie against Real Madrid after the two sides drew 1-1 in the first leg on Tuesday evening.
The Blues were unchanged from the win over West Ham United, whereas Marcelo, Toni Kroos and Vinicius Junior came in for the host from the weekend draw over Real Betis in LaLiga.
Chelsea were lively from the start and within 15 minutes took the lead after Christian Pulisic beat the offside trap to bring down a ball over the top of the defence for a composed close-range finish after rounding Thibaut Courtois.
As expected, Madrid urgently bombed forward minutes from going behind and almost pulled the comeback through a rasping drive from Karim Benzema that struck the upright.
Los Blancos showcased steel three minutes from the half-hour mark and were back level after Benzema brought down a flick-on in the area from Eder Militao to volley into the top corner.
The Blues began to feel pressured and nearly allowed in a second goal moments afterwards from a curling low shot by Kroos, but he went wide of the bottom-corner.
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Madrid looked to grab the front-foot in the earlier exchanges of the second half from a powerful effort on the far side by Benzema, however the French striker curled one way over the top of target.
There appeared a balanced overall affair following the closing quarter after no decent amount of goal-mouth opportunities from either side materialised.
Los Blancos turned focus to the bench nearer to the final minutes and called on former Chelsea star Eden Hazard in favour of Vinicius.
It was the Blues though who looked to finish strong through Hakim Ziyech before Carlos Casemiro closed-in at the other end, however it finished 1-1 ahead of next week's return-leg.
