Real Madrid 3 Chelsea 2: Impressive Real down Blues despite Eden Hazard’s late double

CHELSEA were bested by an impressive Real Madrid in a first half blitz in front of a massive 106,000 crowd in Michigan despite a late Eden Hazard double.

A strong Chelsea side including the likes of John Terry, Willian and Oscar started the game brightly except for a Nemanja Matic backwards header which nearly flummoxed keeper Asmir Begovic.

But the rest of the half belonged to left-back Marcelo, who opened the scoring when he cut in from the left flank and fired beyond Begovic from 25 yards with the help of a deflection.

Seven minutes later, amid intense Real pressure,  the Brazilian defender was at it again, playing a neat one-two before bursting into the box and firing into the net.

To rub salt into Antonio Conte‘s wounds, youngster Mariano Diaz, who usually plays for Real’s B team, scored an absolute peach of a strike from 30 yards out.

Conte made four Chelsea changes at the break with Thibault Courtois, Nathaniel Chalobah, Juan Cuadrado and Michy Batshuayi all coming on.

And the Blues looked a bit brighter in the second half mainly thanks to the impressive Batshuayi who nearly scored when Bertrand Traore slipped him in – but he dragged his shot wide.

But they did manage a goal in front of a record 105,826 crowd for a Chelsea game when sub Hazard, back from a fruitful Euro 2016 when he ran onto a long pass from Nathaniel Chalobah and beat the keeper to the ball to slot home from an angle.

Michy nearly scored again when clean through towards the end, but Hazard added a second in almost identical fashion with almost the last kick of an entertaining game.

FACTS, STATS, GOALS & LOLS

• WILLIAN has been a standout player this summer for Chelsea. His delightful free-kick teed up John Terry early on but he failed to make a good connection.
• NEMANJA MATIC knows he is going to have to fight hard for this place in the Chelsea team now N’Golo Kante is on the scene. But a scuffed effort where he should have scored and almost an embarrassing own goal with a header will not have helped his confidence.
• PEDRO had a bit of a mare. One facet of play summed him up. Set free down the let by a Betrand Traore ball, the Spaniard raced clear before taking a horrible touch to see the ball run out of play to waste a great opportunity for Chelsea.
• CHELSEA were impressively solid against Liverpool on Thursday morning – but boss Antonio Conte would have been disappointed with this showing. Marcello was able to cut inside Willian and Bertrand Traore before scoring his 19th-minute deflected opener. And then Ola Aina lost possession before Marcello was able to hold off Matic before thumping home at the near post in the 27th minute for No2.

• ASMIR BEGOVIC had a mixed 45 minutes. He made a top-drawer stop to deny Raphael Varane’s header and again to frustrate Carlos Casimiro. There was little he could do with the two opening goals – but he should have done better with Mariano Diaz’s 30-yard strike.
• BEING hammered by Real Madrid is a blessing in a disguise. There is nothing worse that cracks being papered over by winning or drawing a pre-season warm-up. The 4-2-4 formation saw their midfield exposed horribly against a quality team. Madrid played a good old-fashioned 4-4-2 and they looked fine.
• RUBEN LOFTUS-CHEEK. The first time he was noticed was when his name was read out at the start of the second half to say he had been subbed. Everyone was scratching their heads, wondering if he had been on the pitch for the opening 45 minutes anyway.

• NEMANJA MATIC and Oscar offered little protection to the back four as the two central midfielders.
• WHEN Marcello scored his second, both Gary Cahill and John Terry were left exposed. Cahill was pulled out of position because Ola Aina had given away possession – and Terry opted not to come across to cover, which proved costly.
• THIS game illustrated one other key point. Conte needs to sign a quality centre-half. Against good opponents, they are going to be exposed.
• NO Chelsea fan should panic just yet. This is pre-season and the players have been doing double warm-weather training sessions. These matches are mostly about giving players game time. You can’t read too much into them.

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