Chelsea vs Real Madrid: Blues suffer third preseason defeat

CHARLOTTE, August 7: Chelsea suffered its third defeat of the preseason as the Blues fell 2-1 to defending Champions League title winners Real Madrid in Charlotte on Tuesday to cap off its USA tour.

With a grueling five games in 13 days, Chelsea stumbled to a host of poor results marred by defensive errors and a collection of missed chances up front. Tonight, it was more of the same as the Blues were porous and mistake-prone at the back, conceding first-half goals by Lucas Vazquez and Brahim Diaz.

The Blues were bright up front creating many chances of their own, with Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu both looking full of quality, but they all fell apart at the final moment as the Blues struggled to pick out the right moments to shoot.

Missing a host of their first-team regulars, especially in midfield, Real Madrid looked gettable on the counter, but were their usual selves in the build-up too, and were far less error-prone than their Premier League opponents. Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo both cropped up with delightful vertical deliveries on the Real Madrid goals that left Chelsea defenders in the dust.

The second half was a sleepy rendition of the entertaining first 45 minutes as the teams threw multiple youth players on and had little desire to push their luck in search of more goals. Ultimately, Chelsea clearly have lots of work to do under new head coach Enzo Maresca to become a formidable foe in the Premier League again, but there are moments of positivity to take with them as well.

-sportingnews.com