Preview
The business end of this season's UEFA Champions League is upon us with Real Madrid and Chelsea set to battle for a place in the final of the competition. Both clubs have somewhat defied odds to reach the peultimate stage after struggling to find their feet at the beginning of the season. Ahead of Wednesday's encounter, they will hope that this turnaround in fortune will guide them to the promise land.
For Real Madrid, the fact that they have been regular customers at this stage of the competition in three of the last five seasons gives them a slight edge against Chelsea's inexperienced side. Under current manager Zinedine Zidane, Los Blancos dominated Europe from 2016 to 2018, winning the titles in offer in all those years. While a lot has changed in terms of personnel since their last success story, the Spanish club is still well equipped to pull off another heist.
They approach the clash on the back of a disappointing 0-0 draw with Real Betis, a result that has put their La Liga title hopes in the balance. At the moment, the league's defending champions are tied on 71 points with Barcelona annd risk being demoted to third place should the Catalans win their outstanding game to usurp Atletico Madrid atop the table. But for Wednesday's European outing, they will be optimistic about their chances, having put together an impressive unbeaten run in all competitions in the past three months.
Since falling to a disappointing 2-1 home defeat against Levante on January 30th, Real Madrid have won 12 of their last 17 outings, and have drawn the remaining five games. Within that period, they managed wins over Atalanta and Liverpool to sail through the Round of 16 and quarter-final stage of the Champions League respectively. However, as to whether they can keep this running going by getting past a former European Super League club in Chelsea remains to be seen with Thomas Tuchel targeting glory with his blue army.
Since taking over the reins from Frank Lampard, the German manager has successfully forged the London club into a team which, in his own words, "no other team would want to face". Under his wings, the Premier League club has battled its way into the final of this season's FA Cup and are well positioned to secure a place in Europe for next season on the Premier League table. Prior to his appointment, that was considered as unrealistic owning to the status-quo under Frank Lampard.
Indeed, the journey has been daunting for Chelsea, especially in the Champions League where they had to beat the likes of Atletico Madrid and FC Porto - the side that eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus - to book a semi-final berth. Confidence remains high owning to the fact that they have managed just to defeats across their last 22 matches in all competitions. 15 of the remaining 20 games have resulted in wins while the other five have been draws.
Keeping the frontline of teams at bay is also becoming part of Chelsea's identity under Thomas Tuchel. In the last eight matches that they have won, only the Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace ended with the side conceding a goal, having impressively scored 15 goals across the games. Coming up against a Real Madrd team that has conceded just two goals in their last five Champions League matches and have recorded wins in nine of their last 10 knockout ties in the tournament, a spectacle is all that fans can anticipate.
Head-to-head record
Real Madrid and Chelsea have met three times in history. The former have failed to stamp their superiority in those meetings with the Blues edging them with two wins to their name and the remaining clash ending in a draw.
Team news
The imminent reunion of Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois with the Chelsea team is arguably the biggest news ahead of Tuesday's clash. The former ended a seven-year spell at the London club to join Real Madrid in 2019 - a year after, the latter, his compartriot moved to the Santiago Bernabeu.
The 30-year-old winger featured in Real Madrid's final training session after a recovering from a recurring ankle injury and is expected to feature in the starting lineup against his former employers. On the contrary, Federico Valverde remains in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 while Sergio Ramos will also be amiss with a calf injury. Lucas Vazquez (knee) and Ferland Mendy (calf). There is also a boost in the side with Toni Kroos, Dani Carvajal and Raphael Varane all returning to the squad.
Meanwhile, in Chelsea's camp, there will be no reunion for Mateo Kovacic who picked up a hamstring injury in the weekend's Premier League win over West Ham. However, N'golo Kante is expected to marshall affairs in midfield alongside Jorginho after returning from a brief spell on the sidelines.
Predicted starting XI
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Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Militao, Nacho; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius
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Chelsea: Mendy; Azpilicueta, Silva, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell; Mount, Werner; Havertz.
Broadcast information
Match details, result and original broadcast info
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Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
