Chelsea have pulled one back against Real Madrid.
After a largely dismal first half of sloppy defending and lifeless, low tempo attacks, the Blues picked things up a bit and got their reward.
Enzo Fernandez, struggling to impact the game from an isolated interior position, finally found some space near the box and pulled off a superb chip to the far post.
Noni Madueke – who not long before had been looking despondent after being forced to pass backwards again – made a great run to arrive and score at the far post.
You can see the goal in the clip embedded here:
https://x.com/ishan04shah/status/1820970678914326747
[Footage from NBC Sport]
https://x.com/CfcSheikh/status/1820970142332801390
[Footage from ESPN]
Madueke can thank his defender for making no effort to play the ball, otherwise this never results in a goal.
It must be said that the rest of the match Madueke was pretty poor. Indifferent defending that left us open in the 1st half, some bad, bad giveaways out on the wing and an absolutely piss poor free kick late on where he tried to go for goal from a tight angle angle rather than simply serve a good ball into the box. Basically your typical Madueke performance—moments where you glimpse potential brilliance overwhelmed by the player’s inability (or unwillingness?) to make good decisions. Can we please have Cole Palmer back on the right wing now?!