Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso saw his second-half goal against Real Madrid controversially disallowed by VAR for an apparent handball during their Champions League quarter-final second-leg clash on Tuesday evening. The Blues went into the match needing to score at least three goals to progress to the last four of this year’s competition and bagged twice through Mason Mount and Antonio Rudiger to draw level on aggregate at the Bernabeu.
Alonso thought he had completed an unlikely comeback for Chelsea shortly after the hour mark when he fired home from close range to leave Thibaut Courtois stranded between the posts. The Spaniard’s joy was short-lived, though, with VAR intervening to rule out his potentially decisive goal for a handball just moments before his powerful strike arrowed into the top corner.
Replays showed the ball appearing to strike Alonso’s hand as it sat up in front of him, although BT Sport analyst Peter Walton went on to suggest that there was not enough hard evidence to overturn the referee’s original decision or justify a clear and obvious error at the first time of asking. The goal would have marked Alonso’s first in the Champions League since joining Chelsea from Italian heavyweights Fiorentina back in 2016.
Chelsea eventually grabbed their elusive goal through Timo Werner, who danced through Real Madrid’s defence and into the area before firing a deflected shot into the bottom corner to finally put his side in the ascendancy. However, the hosts replied almost instantly when Rodrygo poked the ball past Edouard Mendy with just 10 minutes remaining to draw level on aggregate.
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The Blues came flying out of the blocks at the Bernabeu to a degree that Thomas Tuchel was not expecting prior to kick-off in the Spanish capital. The Chelsea boss admitted that it would be a hugely difficult task to fight back after losing by two goals in their first-leg clash at Stamford Bridge when quizzed on his hopes of making the last four of the Champions League on Monday.
“It cannot be more different [to last year’s semi-final against Real Madrid],” Tuchel told reporters. “It was at the training ground and the youth stadium, it cannot be more different.
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“It is one of the biggest challenges to perform as an away team at the Bernabeu. It is even more difficult if you have to earn a certain result, if you need to win with a minimum of two goals or better even, maybe a three-goal difference.
“Almost impossible and very, very difficult but it is still worth trying and it is a stage where you can also overperform. We need to overperform. It is not easy but it is a big experience to learn from and maybe an experience to take and overperform.”
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