Reuters reports that Chelsea, who trailed 2-0 from last week’s match at the Bernabeu, had moments but failed to take their chances in the first half and at the start of the second half and were pushed as Rodrygo dispatched the soft Spaniards.
He opened the scoring in the 58th minute and took advantage again in the 80th minute to spark an exodus of Chelsea fans.
N’Golo Kante twice came close to reducing the deficit and former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved Real Madrid goalkeeper twice before halftime to frustrate his old team.
And when Rodrygo finished off a sweeping counter-attack, there was no way back for the London club, who had lost all four matches since Frank Lampard returned as interim coach.
This is the first time that Chelsea have lost four matches in a row since 1993.
The final stages were almost academic and Real played their game as Federico Valverde scored Rodrygo’s second goal.
While Chelsea’s season will end without trophies under the new American owners despite spending 500 million pounds ($621 million) on new players, 14-time European champions Real continue with coach Carlo Ancelotti eyeing a fifth trophy.
Manchester City lead Bayern Munich 3-0 heading into the quarter-final second leg on Wednesday.
Chelsea fans turned up the volume with more hope than expectation from kick-off and the hosts almost got a perfect start when Reece James crossed sweetly for Kanté but bounced the ball wide.
Real were happy to play a containment game, but still looked capable of killing the equalizer as they moved forward and Rodrygo, who scored a vital goal for Real against Chelsea at the same stage last year, hit the post.
Then the team’s goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga, beat Vinicius Jr.’s goal before Luka Modric, the Real Madrid craftsman, found himself on the right, but Arrizabalaga saved it.
Chelsea’s goal just before halftime set the mood fresh, and it almost arrived in stoppage time when James volleyed across the area and Marc Cucurella looked poised to score only for Courtois to brilliantly dampen his effort.
Kante’s agonizingly sideways effort was gone at the start of the second half and that proved Chelsea’s last hope.
Rodrygo latched onto Trevaux Chalobah’s wild dash and was shown a cross by fellow Brazilian Vinicius to slot home.
With a safety cushion in place, the Real Madrid fans wedged into the corner were already singing their squad as Chelsea’s Real defense once again picked Rodrygo to slam the penalty into an empty net.
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