They bat their Premier League opponents easily in the Champions League last year, so Enzo Maresca has a lot of work to do.

We already knew that Real Madrid is much better than Chelsea from the pre-season match. But Real Madrid’s 2-1 win in Charlotte on Tuesday showed how big that gap really was. Madrid is ready for the season to begin, even though some of their best players are still on vacation after the season. Chelsea? Not even close.

They bat their Premier League opponents easily in the Champions League last year, so Enzo Maresca has a lot of work to do.

We already knew that Real Madrid is much better than Chelsea from the pre-season match. But Real Madrid’s 2-1 win in Charlotte on Tuesday showed how big that gap really was. Madrid is ready for the season to begin, even though some of their best players are still on vacation after the season. Chelsea? Not even close.

Lucas Vazquez scored the first goal for Real Madrid, but Dani Ceballos said he actually scored it. Then Brahim Diaz made it 2-0 by beating the new Chelsea goalie Filip Jorgensen. It was the perfect ending to a great game by Diaz, who was named Man of the Match. Even though Noni Madueke scored a goal before halftime to keep up his good scoring run in preseason, it wasn’t enough to win the game.

The real season for Real Madrid starts on August 14 when they play Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup. Chelsea’s starts four days later in the Premier League against Manchester City. Based on this, it looks like one team is ready for their first competitive task and the other is not even close.

Goal goes down who won and lost at Bank of America Stadium…

Vinnie Jr. is the winner.

This past weekend, Vinicius Jr. came off the bench against Barcelona. This past weekend, he started his first pre-season game against Chelsea. From this, it looks like Vini is ready to play.

In the first half, the Brazilian star made it impossible for Chelsea’s defense to stop him. He produced several chances on his own and set up Brahim’s goal with a beautiful trivela. When things went well for Real Madrid, Vini was usually in the middle of it.

Even though he’s the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or, it’s scary to think that he won’t have as much pressure this season. Since everyone is looking at Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius may have even more room to move and more chances to make magic.

If he’s this good without Mbappe, it scares me to think how good he would be with him. Warriors, be aware that this is not going to be simple.

LOSER: The defense of Chelsea

That was really bad! Chelsea looked lost every time Madrid moved the ball forward. From the first whistle, there was chaos, and it seemed to get worse every time they had to defend.

Benoit Badiashile and Levi Colwill started for Chelsea at center back, and let’s just say they were bad. Nobody tried, nobody talked, and no one was calm. To be honest, they were lucky to only give up two goals in the first half. It might have been worse, and it could have been.

Also, goalkeeper Jorgensen shouldn’t get away with it. His inability to make a choice on Brahim’s goal was the worst part of a game that didn’t have any good parts for Blues fans.

Chelsea is in a lot of trouble if this is what they’re working with. Things need to get fixed quickly in this defense by Maresca.

Noni Madueke is the winner.

Chelsea has a huge team, so there is a lot of competition for minutes on the wings. However, this is true all over the field. On the other hand, Madueke has made his case for more chances this summer.

The back post from the England Under-21 international gave Chelsea a way back into the game. He wasn’t spectacular in any other way, but goals matter, even in pre-season, and he has now scored in all three of Chelsea’s matches in the US.

Madueke isn’t getting many minutes, but he stood out in a game where other wingers didn’t do much. During his time on the field, Raheem Sterling mostly played badly, and Mykhailo Mudryk missed his only real chance to score.

Madueke stood out in part because other players failed, but he also scored his goal, and he hopes to keep up his good play in the next season.