CHELSEA won the battle at the Bernabeu last night but Real Madrid won the war.
Thomas Tuchel’s tactics allowed his side to dominate normal time as the Blues scored three goals in 75 minutes with another from Marcos Alonso (£4.8m) disallowed by VAR for handball.
However, the ageless Luka Modric changed the outlook with a single swish of his right foot, providing an instantly iconic assist for Rodrygo in the 80th minute.
The familiar duo of Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema then combined in extra time to make it 5-4 to Los Blancos on aggregate.
Chelsea chances fell to Christian Pulisic (£3.6m), Kai Havertz (£4.3m) and Jorginho (£3.1m), though none were converted and ultimately Tuchel’s men were left to rue their mistakes in the first leg.
No doubt elimination in such dramatic circumstances is a bitter pill to swallow for the Stamford Bridge residents but the performances of Reece James (£5.8m), Mateo Kovacic (£1.7m) and Mason Mount (£4.7m) at one of Europe’s most iconic stadiums deserve praise regardless of the tie’s outcome.
And perhaps the biggest positive takeaway from the night was Timo Werner (£3.0m) mirroring the form that made him so prolific for RB Leipzig.
The German forward justified his selection convincingly as his pace and movement disorganised the hosts’ defence in normal time, as best evidenced by his goal.
Werner also led a coordinated press that smothered Carlo Ancelotti’s side for 80 minutes until Modric broke the shackles.
The 26-year-old was replaced by Pulisic in the minutes that followed Real’s counter punch and the visitors were instantly rendered less threatening upon his departure.
On a night Tuchel got so much right, the substitution appeared to be severe misstep but it may be that the decision was forced by an injury to the Germany international.
Still, Werner did enough in his 83 minutes to earn the Star Man award and bank 15 Dream Team points – he assisted Mount’s opener as well.
Couple this with his extraordinary performance at Southampton at the weekend and Chelsea’s No11 has racked up 33 points in Game Week 31!
Such a massive haul puts him above even hat-trick hero Son Heung-min (£5.5m) for the Game Week – the South Korean superstar bagged 28 points at Villa Park.
It’s only natural such a significant influx of points would intrigue Dream Team gaffers.
Werner appears in just 1.4% of teams at the time of writing and at £3.0m he’s extremely affordable – though expect his price to increase this Friday.
If he’s able to continue his newly recaptured form then he could be a wildcard option for the remainder of the campaign.
Of course, he’s viability depends on whether or not he did suffer an injury setback at the Bernabeu and, if so, the severity of it.
If you are interested in Werner as a differential striker then wait for an update on his availability before pulling the trigger.
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