The friendly match, played in front of more than 105,000 spectators at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, was seemingly over as a contest by the interval thanks to an unlikely Marcelo double and Mariano Diaz's wonderstrike.
Madrid failed to push on in the second half and allowed Chelsea back into the contest late on when Eden Hazard came off the bench to score what proved to be a couple of consolation goals in his first club outing of the summer.
It may well have been a different story entirely had Chelsea not fluffed their only chance of the first half, which arrived just two minutes in at the end of a Willian delivery.
John Terry was left unmarked a few yards out but could not make any telling contact, while Nemanja Matic failed to lift the ball over Kiko Casilla with his equally-tame attempt.
Casilla would not have another stop to make in the opening 45 minutes, with Asmir Begovic's first save arriving moments later when Matic's headed backpass had to be scooped aside to spare some early blushes.
Marcelo's first goal arrived 19 minutes in when, after being allowed to skip inside far too easily by Willian, the Brazilian let leash from 20 yards out with a shot that took a telling touch off Oscar on its way past a bamboozled Begovic.
Fresh on the back of finding a consolation goal against Paris Saint-Germain earlier this week - a match Los Blancos actually trailed 3-0 themselves at one point - Marcelo had his third in two outings when waltzing through the Blues' backline.
A quick give-and-go allowed the full-back to simply tuck the ball into the bottom corner past the reach of an exposed Begovic, and things were to soon get even worse for the West London outfit.
Having produced impressive stops to deny Casemiro from a free kick and Raphael Varane's close-range header, Begovic could do little to prevent a dipping Mariano strike that got the six-figure crowd - a record for a Chelsea match - up on their feet in appreciation.
Chelsea, with three bookings to their name heading into the break, had always planned on making two changes at the midway point but opted to make four alterations in all following what had been a dismal showing.
The changes did allow the Blues to wrestle back some control of the game, but the contest threatened to badly fizzle out with very little goalmouth action in the opening 30 minutes of the second half.
Michy Batshuayi was among those to be introduced, and the summer signing from Marseille did well to dig the ball out from under his feet and get a shot on target.
There was also half a chance for Nathaniel Chalobah, who rather scuffed his effort when a fine passing move saw him played through on goal at a tight angle 20 minutes from time.
Chelsea did bag the goal that their second-half efforts perhaps deserved late on, as Hazard latched on to a hopeful ball over the top and made the most of Ruben Yanez's questionable goalkeeping by rounding the stopper and rolling the ball home.
Hazard was at it again in added time after Yenez once again made Hazard's mind up for him when played clean through, with the 2014-15 PFA Player of the Year being given the task of slotting into an empty net to give Chelsea's supporters in attendance something to smile about.
sportsmole.co.uk
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