Frank Leboeuf says Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix were invisible for Chelsea against Real Madrid
According to Frank Leboeuf, Chelsea stars Joao Felix and Raheem Sterling made little to no difference against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League.
In the attack, Lampard opted to start Felix and Sterling rather than Kai Havertz, who had played most of Chelsea’s games in the role this season. The duo failed to do justice to the manager’s faith in them.
Chelsea had an early opportunity to break the deadlock when Felix put behind Eder Militao, but his effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois. Sterling also had a chance to put the Blues ahead, but once again the Real Madrid goalkeeper was quick to react.
For the majority of the game Felix and Sterling contributed a little in attack and were often dispossessed by Madrid players. They made little impact and were subsequently subbed off in 65 minutes. The lack of cutting-edge saw the Blues come away with nothing to show for their efforts.
And Leboeuf did not hesitate to call it out when he criticised Felix and Sterling in an interview with ESPN, (h/t Football.London), saying:
“Some [Chelsea] players did well, but most of them switched off, I’d say. What happened to Joao Felix today? It was not a derby between Atletico and Real Madrid; it was Chelsea. Yet he disappeared. Sterling… I’m not talking about him. He disappeared for a long time.”
Chelsea’s assault lacked bite, and after Felix and Sterling wasted opportunities that grew increasingly harder to come by. They both played quite poorly, with the England international isolating himself and frequently losing possession. It appeared as though Chelsea’s attack did not exist.
The Portuguese, meanwhile, had little impact. Although he made a few nice runs early on and avoided Madrid’s pressure and later lost consistency and was unable to direct the attacks.
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However, we cannot be held accountable individuals for this defeat because our entire team failed to deliver a strong performance, and we were punished for it.