What Timo Werner Said After Chelsea's Heartbreaking Champions League Exit

Chelsea forward Timo Werner has expressed disappointment after Real Madrid eliminated them from the Champions League on aggregate goals.

Going into the second leg of their quarter-finals, Real Madrid had a 3-1 advantage. Goals from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Werner wiped away Real's advantage with less than 20 minutes to go at Santiago Bernabeu on Tuesday.

However, Rodrygo, who came off the bench, collected an excellent pass from Luka Modric and netted an extra-time volley. Karim Benzema followed that with the decisive goal in the 96th minute to send Real Madrid to the semi-final through 5-4 on aggregate.

"To come back after a 3-1 defeat in the home game was very good for us, we had everything that we needed at 3-0 up, we had the chance to go through. But in the end, you can’t stop Madrid the whole time. We know that but we tried everything in normal time and in extra time but the home game made a difference because this [the away game] was nearly a perfect performance from us, so we are very disappointed after what we put into this game and how we played," Werner said after the game in Madrid, Chelsea's official website reported.

After Mount's strike, Marcos Alonso doubled Chelsea's lead but the video assistant referee ruled it out for handball.

"When I celebrated [my goal] I thought this is it. We could have scored before that to make it 3-0 but the officials didn’t give it to us, it is a point you can talk about, but when I scored I thought we are through with this. We nearly gave no chances to Madrid but in the end, we have to say the goals they scored were very good," the German forward added.

Meanwhile, as a consolation, Chelsea are the only the second team to score three goals away against Real Madrid in all European competitions, after Manchester United did so in a 3-3 draw in the European Cup in May 1968, according to Opta Joe.

The 26-year-old forward also emphasized the mistakes Chelsea made across the two quarter-final legs. He, however, said the Blues were a much better side in the second leg.

"It was a problem because it put us in a very difficult situation, but also on the other side, it was the thing that brings us for the second game to this level because we know that we have to step up and we have to give everything. We had a brilliant game and we had 10 minutes to go through to make a miracle come true, so it is very disappointing," said Werner.

Chelsea were the defending champions in the Champions League. They had defeated Manchester City 1-0 in Porto last season to claim their second top European title.

With the Champions League elimination, Thomas Tuchel's side is set to end the 2021-22 season without a trophy. They recently lost the League Cup final to Liverpool and they are not in the race for the Premier League title. The Blues are placed third in the league table, 12 points behind City and 11 behind Liverpool.