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Chelsea v Real Madrid..a game of two halves….Champions Cup…. a competition of little meaning!

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The International Champions Cup looks great on paper. The biggest European teams in the world are there and the games are spread all over the world. But don’t get too carried away. Although thousands of fans are turning out and in today’s Real Madrid vs Chelsea encounter over 100,000 fans came, there’s something not quite right.

Earlier this week Tottenham took on Juventus. They started with not even one of their normal first XI! Was that because many of their players were tired out from doing very little at the Euros for England? Or maybe it was just that they didn’t really care. Real Madrid had no Ronaldo, Ramos, Bale, Modric and Benzema. Barcelona started with remarkably, both Messi and Suarez but that was all from their normal team and they both departed at half time. And so it goes on through all the teams at the tournament with so many unknown or fringe players.

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Marcello scored two first half goals for Real Madrid

 

In tonight’s game in Michigan, United States a very entertaining game saw Real run out winners 3-2….just! Real dominated the first half and with a strong team including Morata, Casemiro, Varane and Marcello they were leading 3-0 at the break. It could easily have been double that if it wasn’t for some fine goalkeeping by Begovic. In the first half though Chelsea started without Hazard, Courtois, Fabregas, Costa and really only had Willian as their definite first eleven starter.

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3-0 to Real at half-time! Is this going to be a slaughter?

 

In the second half it was all change. Around the hour mark off went eight Madrid players to be replaced by a team of youngsters. For Chelsea, on came the Premier League’s  genius, Hazard, the new boy Bathshuayi and the reborn Cuadrado. We also saw the emerging talent of Chalobah and towards the end of the game, the energetic Moses. Now the game transformed dramatically. Chelsea dominated, Real couldn’t get out of their own half. Had the game gone on for another ten minutes or so, Chelsea would have definitely won. In the end they had to settle for two late goals and a 3-2 defeat but had enough chances to win the game. Indeed Chelsea had seventeen shots to Madrid’s ten.

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In the second half Cuadrado came on and impressed…are you watching Jose?

 

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Hazard played just over 20 minutes but scored twice…

 

Chelsea can take a lot of pluses from the game. Bathshuayi’s went on some great runs. At one point he drifted easily past three Madrid players until he was brought down by two more as he was just about to shoot. Cuadrado’s attacking presence was a far cry from his first spell. His former Portuguese boss, Jose Mourinho couldn’t loan him out quick enough. This time around under Conte we are seeing already why Chelsea bought him in the first place. Moses too has impressed in all pre-season games so far and may get a chance this season for some first team action.

Looking at their highly successful youth team, Chelsea have given regular playtime to Chalobah, Loftus-cheek, Aina and Traore. You wonder why they are still looking at options in the transfer market since there is so much talent on their books already. N’Golo Kante has also just arrived from champions Leicester.

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A lot of positives for Conte to take back

 

There are still some huge games to come in the Champions cup. Chelsea v Milan, Barcelona v Liverpool and Bayern Munich v Real Madrid are just some of the highlights. Normally they would be mouth-watering ties. However if teams of reserves and youth team players are continually fielded, fans will feel disappointed and cheated. It may be argued that club managers are blooding new and up and coming players to see if they are ready for the big time. I believe that the truth lies elsewhere. The best players are left on the bench or used for short periods of time for one reason only. To make sure they do not get injured before the new season ahead. As such the Champions cup may have a limited lifespan and it could more appropriately be described as the Reserves Cup!

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