Champions League: Thomas Tuchel wanted 'a fantastic script' from Chelsea; Real Madrid gave it to him

Thomas Tuchel had challenged his Chelsea side to deliver "nothing else than a fantastic script." He could not argue that they failed to deliver. The issue was rather that the reigning champions were not destined to end this great journey as its heroes. This was to be another tale in the enduring romance between Real Madrid and the Champions League. Chelsea were to be the fall guys.

The clues were there, not just in the enduring excellence of match-winner Karim Benzema, who will doubtless believe that this particular screenplay ends with him hoisting the Champions League trophy in Paris, but the familiar face of Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian would ultimately be the one that stood between his former side and a place in the semifinals, a string of fine saves allowing Madrid to cling on to a 3-2 defeat on the night that saw them advance 5-4 on aggregate.

This was nothing like the Chelsea team we have come to know on the European stage. On their run to Champions League glory last season, they settled into a groove Tuchel rarely had to break them out of. Earn yourself a favorable scoreline in the first leg, throttle the life out of the game in the second. It was the opposite of drama. For neutrals who followed them last season, it was a masterclass in tedium.

Not since the round of 16 in 2020 had Tuchel, then in charge of Paris Saint-Germain, had to overcome a first-leg deficit in this competition. At Chelsea, he had picked up three wins and an away draw in four first legs prior. His side had become used to holding the higher ground in the second game, allowing wave upon wave of increasingly desperate attack to break on their defensive wall before they applied the coup de grâce.

In the Santiago Bernabeu, no such option was available to them after Karim Benzema's first-leg hat trick. Tuchel was forced to embrace the absence of control, at least from the outset. It rather suited this most meticulous of head coaches. At Stamford Bridge, Madrid had the space and time to play the game at Carlo Ancelotti's considered pace. Chelsea were not so accommodating this time.

This was football played at Premier League pace, Chelsea snapping into challenges, chasing in packs and rushing upfield when the opportunity presented itself. It was not without its risks, particularly early on when Federico Valverde and, in particular, Vinicius Junior punched into the gaps behind the attack-minded full backs in Tuchel's hybrid of a back four and the wing back system he tends to favor.

Reece James, in particular, looked like he would be vulnerable after picking up a booking a mere 12 minutes into the contest for a foul on Vinicius, instead, he was quite excellent, a superb tackle in the 84th minute showing real composure when a penalty seemed the most likely outcome. However, Chelsea were playing on something of a tightrope down that particular flank and a few better decisions in the final third by the Brazilian and this contest might have headed in a very different direction.

One might say the same about the fact that for once a Timo Werner miscontrol ended up aiding Chelsea's cause rather than harming it. This time, when the ball hit the German's knee, likely to his surprise as much as anyone else's, it broke into the path of Mason Mount, whose thunderous shot careened the visitors into control of this tie.

Madrid simply had no answer for Mount, a man who had liberated himself from such simplistic notions as formations and positioning. One minute he would act as a second center forward, the next he would be adding ballast to a midfield that was able to repel Luka Modric and Toni Kroos in a way it could not six days earlier.

For decades, English midfielders looked like they would never discover the tactical acumen required to excel in grounds like this, on nights like this. Not anymore, file Mount Tuesday night alongside Phil Foden's display against Atletico Madrid a week ago. He imposed his will on opponents with the most glittering of trophy cabinets.

He was far from alone in putting in a performance of the highest standard. Antonio Rudiger excelled in every facet of play, his bullet of a header to bring Chelsea level in the tie was not even the top highlight of his personal reel as he denied Karim Benzema what seemed a certain goal after Kroos had picked N'Golo Kante's pocket in midfield.

It was going to take something remarkable for Madrid to beat this defense. That is what they got ... twice. First came Modric's magnificent pass and Rodrygo's volley, destined to be the forgotten moment of brilliance when everyone reminisces about this particular goal. Then came something all the more surprising, Rudiger's excellent evening undone by one cruel slip as Benzema ghosted in to head home Vinicius' cross. Those were the hosts' chances. They took them.

Compare that though, with the sheer weight of high quality opportunities Chelsea made, not just Marcos Alonso's goal, rightly ruled out for a handball before his thundering shot on his weaker foot, but also for Courtois' superb saves from Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech.

If these games were reflective merely of what happened on the pitch, then Chelsea might just have been winners. They won the game, the shot count by 25 to 10, registering an expected goals tally almost double that of Madrid. But narrative holds quite the sway in this competition.

In the end, Chelsea had put just too much energy into giving Tuchel the fairytale he wanted. They did their job and managed the comeback. The problem was that there were a few more pages left in the script thereafter.