No Champions League for big-spending Todd Boehly next season! Winners & losers as Rodrygo and Real Madrid toss wasteful Chelsea aside

The Brazil forward played hero against Chelsea in the Champions League last year, coming off the bench to grab a late goal at Santiago Bernabeu that sent the contest to extra-time.

And though his goals here weren't quite as dramatic, they were equally as important. 

For the opener, Rodrygo darted down the right side, making expert use of Madrid’s one real counter-attack of the game. He opted to square the ball, but it ended up coming invitingly back to his feet, six yards from the net — a chance he simply couldn’t miss before hitting Ronaldo’s “Siuuu” celebration in front of the scowling Chelsea fans.

He was at it again 20 minutes later, simply walking the ball in after Federico Valverde set him up with a lovely winding run through four Chelsea defenders. 

Karim Benzema was well short of his best on Tuesday, and Real Madrid needed a new hero to continue their Champions League exploits. Rodrygo was that man.

Having spent £600 million over the past 12 months, it's incredible to think that Boehly will now have no Champions League football to watch from the Stamford Bridge director's box next season.

That is a damning indictment of his first year in charge of the club, his reckless spending and poor decision-making having now left the Blues on the outside looking in at Europe's elite for at least the next year.

As if to illustrate the point, Lampard chose to leave all of Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Raheem Sterling on the bench, instead opting for a 5-4-1 formation as the expensive flops that Boehly has brought to the club watched on from the sidelines.

Chelsea are already up against it in terms of Financial Fair Play, and so despite their riches, the lack of Champions League money next season will hurt them, and it might lead to more players leaving this summer than they would perhaps like.

Signing assets of the standard of Jude Bellingham and Victor Osimhen is probably off the table too now, and given the strength of the Premier League, there is no guarantee that Chelsea will be back in the Champions League after just one year away either.

This is set to be a long road back for Boehly's Blues, and the co-owner has to take much of the blame for that.

Courtois seems to produce at least one immense save every game he plays for Madrid, but his customary stop here was spectacular even for him.

Marc Cucurella had half of the goal to aim at from six yards out before Courtois scurried across his line to somehow block the Spanish defender's attempt.

After making the save, he turned to the Chelsea fans that had taunted him all night for leaving the club in acrimonious circumstances back in 2018 and kissed the Madrid badge. 

Had Courtois failed to foil Cucurella’s effort, the tie could well have gone differently. A goal would have brought Chelsea within one on aggregate, and given the home side a healthy dose of optimism heading into the second half.

Instead, the Belgian knocked the life out of Stamford Bridge, and with Madrid advancing to their 11th semi-final in 13 years, there will likely be more big moments to come.

Kante is a lot of things as a footballer, but finishing has never been his strongest attribute, and that showed at the worst possible time for Chelsea on Tuesday.

Deployed as one of the more attacking midfielders in Lampard's innovative box midfield, Kante twice find himself in prime position inside the penalty area to give the Blues the lead on the night.

And both times he failed to convert.

He first missed the Blues' first real chance, slashing at a shot when in acres of room around 10 yards from goal, with his effort slicing wide of Thibaut Courtois' left-hand post.

Kante then found himself with the goal at his mercy again early in the second half, only to crash his effort against Eder Militao, who made a block he knew almost nothing about.

Moments later, Madrid were 1-0 up on the night, and the tie was pretty much over. With his contract up this summer, we might not see Kante play in the Champions League again for the Blues.

Who can really stop City at this point?

For all of their composure, this Madrid side don’t look the fearsome unit that counter-attacked their way to a Champions League win last year. 

They kept the ball well here and created chances out of almost nothing, but their signature clinical finishing was missing at times.

Benzema, in particular, lacked conviction, while Luka Modric showed signs of mortality with some misplaced passes.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, the fact that AC Milan knocked trendy-pick Napoli out on the other side of the draw only makes their path to a long-coveted Champions League win easier for City to plot.

There are no easy victories in this competition — and Pep Guardiola has a tendency to outthink himself — but this looks like a golden opportunity for City to finally break their European duck.

Whoever has been overseeing Chelsea's shooting drills over the course of the season needs to be let go if they haven't been already, as the Blues cannot finish to save their lives.

Conor Gallagher's heavily-deflected effort against Brighton is the only goal they have managed in six games since the March international break, and their shooting against Madrid showed why they are averaging less than a goal-per-game in the Premier League this season.

As well as Kante's two misses and Cucurella's failure to beat Courtois, the Blues created a number of half-chances, but often finished weakly or straight at the Madrid goalkeeper.

Mykhailo Mudryk summed it up when he was sent clean through on goal late on, only to drag a shot wide. The offside flag would have ruled the goal out, but even the Blues' forwards have no idea how to get the ball in the net at present.

With games against all of the Premier League's top four still to come before the season is out, this is going to be a long final six weeks of the campaign if Chelsea cannot find their shooting boots.