Chelsea put on a much-improved performance but were still no match for Real Madrid, who booked their place in the semi-final of the Champions League with another 2-0 victory over the Blues.
A double from Rodrygo in the second half got the job done for Real and crushed all spirits at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea once again being made to pay for their lack of cutting edge in attack in what was an otherwise solid performance.
Chelsea made a solid start to proceedings, pressing high and forcing even Luka Modric into a misplaced pass. The Blues could have even taken a lead ten minutes in when a deflection fell to an unmarked N’Golo Kante ten yards out, but the Frenchman sliced his volley wide under very little pressure.
It was all Chelsea for the first quarter of the game but Rodrygo did sting the gloves of Kepa Arrizabalaga on a rare foray down the pitch.
Conor Gallagher headed over from close range from a Marc Cucurella cross, although the offside flag was later raised, with Chelsea still knocking on the door but finding a clear-cut chance hard to come by.
Down the other end, Luka Modric fired low at Kepa but was comfortably stopped, with Real having to work incredibly hard to even get half a sight of the Chelsea goal. The Croatian later fizzed in a cross towards Vinicius Junior, who couldn’t make the required contact to convert what was perhaps the best chance of the game so far.
In the dying embers of the half, Thibaut Courtois was called on to make an outstanding save to deny Marc Cucurella, who could not find a way past the Belgian’s enormous frame from close range.
The second half began with the same story as Kante had the chance to volley towards goal from close range, but Eder Militao managed to throw himself in the way.
Against the run of play, however, Real snatched the lead. Rodrygo went bursting down the right and fizzed in a cross which Karim Benzema could not convert, but the ball fell back to the Brazilian and he made no mistake from six yards.
Chelsea brought out the reinforcements in response to the goal, but the morale was gone at that point and Real even bagged a second with ten minutes to go.
Federico Valverde arrived late in the box and sat down Kepa with a perfect cut-back to Rodrygo, who walked the ball into an empty net to remove any doubt about the result.
Vinicius and Mykhailo Mudryk both saw one-on-one chances, that neither managed to convert, pulled back for offside late on.