AUTHOR: James Dowen

STAR PREVIEW Weds: Chelsea v Real Madrid

Chelsea face Real Madrid in the first leg of their quarter-final match up and we could be in for a tight game at Stamford Bridge between the pair.

Both sides come into this game after recent setbacks. Chelsea were dreadful in a 4-1 defeat at home to Brentford at the weekend; Real Madrid may have beaten Celta Vigo to keep their 12 point lead at the head of La Liga, but they’d previously been obliterated by Barcelona in a 4-0 defeat that sends a worrying signal for next season’s title race.

Both sides are better than they showed then – we can expect Chelsea to revert to a back four, Tuchel’s preferred tactical setup, whilst Madrid surely underperformed in El Clasico, especially without Karim Benzema – but it’s hard to be very confident about their chances of first leg success.

Chelsea did bounce back from a 5-2 defeat against West Brom last season with a 2-0 win at Porto at the quarter-final first leg so we can surely expect a response here but this will obviously be a much harder examination than the likes of Norwich and Burnley domestically, or Lille in the last 16.

Chelsea v Real Madrid
UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg
20:00 BT Sport 2 HD / BT Sport Ultimate

HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
(Maximum 10 matches)
MAY 2021 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Chelsea 2-0 Real Madrid
APR 2020 CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea
AUG 1998 UEFA SUPER CUP Chelsea 1-0 Real Madrid
MAY 1971 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP REPLAY Chelsea 2-1 Chelsea
MAY 1971 EUROPEAN CUP WINNERS CUP REPLAY Real Madrid 1-1 Chelsea

And whilst Madrid – thanks to a Karim Benzema hat-trick – reminded the world of that they’re still capable of with their tremendous upset of PSG they’d made very little impact in the tie until Gianluigi Donnarumma’s huge mistake and they’ll have to find more creativity if they’re to attack Chelsea’s defensive weaknesses.

Madrid sat very deep in a cagey first leg against PSG, when Ancelotti’s tactics had been set to pay off before Kylian Mbappe’s fantastic late winner, as Madrid survived an onslaught that included 21 shots faced (eight on target, including a missed penalty) seven corners, and an xG count of 1.80 – 0.14 according to InfoGol.

Madrid’s defensive unit of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, centre-backs Dani Carvajal, and Eder Militao, and defensive midfielder Casemiro did a commendable job there and they could set a stiff task for Chelsea to break down, even with the likely return of Christian Pulisic and the boost of Reece James’s return to fitness.

Chelsea were too good for Madrid over wo legs in the semi-finals last season and the Blues will hope to do the same again at this earlier stage, but nothing has been easy for either of these two teams recently and the draw could be a big runner considering that Chelsea have drawn eight times in the Premier League this season, the highest of any team in the division’s top six.


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