No matter how much Premier League clubs spend, they cannot buy a way past Real Madrid

Real Madrid: champions of the downtrodden? It is not a title that fits with their history as a club, but it is perhaps their new reality in the fast-changing world of European football. In the great battle against the dominance of English teams, it is Real who are leading the continent’s resistance. In many ways, they are the resistance.

Premier League clubs can take the world’s best players, and they can take more money than any of their counterparts in Europe. But they seemingly cannot take over from Real as the dominant force in the Champions League, and this latest thumping of an English side provided another reminder that their crown will not be easily seized.

When a flexible and inventive Chelsea defeated an ageing Real side in the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2021, it looked as if the Spanish club's era of dominance was over. The Premier League had the cash, after all, and Real looked in need of a refresh.

Instead, they have come back better and stronger, with many of the same, thirty-something players in their team. Since that defeat by Chelsea, Real have faced Chelsea again, Manchester City and Liverpool twice.

They have triumphed on each of those occasions and few would bet against them completing this demolition of Frank Lampard’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge when they meet again next week.

What is it about Real that makes them so formidable against Premier League opponents? Well, it helps that Karim Benzema has turned into a one-man wrecking ball against English defences: Each of the Frenchman’s last 11 goals in the Champions League have been against Premier League sides.

Only Lionel Messi has scored more goals against English teams in Europe’s premier competition.

There is more to it than that, though, and to watch Real stroll to victory over Chelsea here was to see a team that operated on a different level of intelligence and sophistication. Tactically better, physically sharper and mentally sharper: they dominated these three main areas of the game.

Tactically, right-back Dani Carvajal caused chaos for Chelsea by pushing high up the pitch, while left-back Eduardo Camavinga drifted into midfield. Physically, the sensational Vinicius Junior ran at Chelsea’s defenders again and again, never stopping and certainly never slowing down. Wesley Fofana, a £70 million defender, was embarrassed by the Brazilian’s pace. The same can be said of Marc Cucurella, a £60m defender, against Rodrygo.

And mentally, there was a know-how to Madrid’s game that Chelsea lacked. Especially in midfield, where Luka Modric pulled his opponents into places they did not want to go, and Federico Valverde sought positions from which he could inflict maximum damage.

It summarised the versatility of Carlo Ancelotti’s team that, after a shaky opening few minutes, they simply tweaked the system and shut down Chelsea’s attacking threat. “We are satisfied with the result,” said Ancelotti. “And for the performance.”

As shown by the latest Deloitte Football Money League analysis, the Premier League now boasts 11 of the world’s 20 highest-earning clubs. Such figures are one of the primary reasons for the push towards a European Super League, of course, with Real continuing to loudly bang that drum.

Perhaps that is a reflection of their fear of what may be to come, but in the present day they continue to resist the rise of the Premier League. Bayern Munich might have considered themselves able to join the rebellion, until they stumbled clumsily into the path of Manchester City on Tuesday night.

Once again it seems to be down to Real to represent the non-Premier League contingent in this competition, although the Italian clubs might bristle at this suggestion.

What is clear is that Real, and Ancelotti, have the number of the English sides they have faced in the last two seasons. They have been there and done it before, and they are still there and doing it now.

A reflection of their dominance is that Chelsea will feel grateful to have only shipped two goals, when it really could have been so much worse. That is what Real do to Premier League clubs and that is what, it seems, they will continue to do, despite the footballing ground continuing to shift beneath their feet.