The Champions League has reached the semi-final stage and Thomas Tuchel leads his side against Zinedine Zidane, hoping Chelsea can overcome Real Madrid in much the same way as they did against Manchester City recently in a domestic cup.
Man City were the favourites there, but Chelsea showed great defensive resilience and a predatory counter-attacking ability; much the same might be required to go through over two legs against the Spanish giants.
Real, of course, have the weight of historical success and expectation behind them - but they haven’t been at their very best this term, even if they do seem to save their top performances for the biggest occasions.
Eden Hazard’s timely return from injury could see him face his former side, while the Blues will be hoping the return to prominence of Timo Werner will instead give them the edge in attack.
Real could yet win the title in LaLiga, though it’s more likely neither team ends the season as domestic champions; as such, it’s all-or-nothing for European glory and there’s no margin for error in the final four.
PSG or Man City will await in the final, but first it’s set to be two titanic tussles with both Real and Chelsea sure to be optimistic about their chances of reaching Istanbul.
6 mins: Chelsea’s pressing pays off as Raphael Varane is caught on the ball in the middle of the pitch. His control is poor as he tries to fend off a tackle and the ball runs away from him. Timo Werner takes it up and sprints towards the box with Christian Pulisic up with him. Werner dinks a pass to his teammates but Real Madrid’s defenders are on top of Pulisic quickly and he can only send it wide to Cesar Azpilicueta.
3 mins: Real Madrid have controlled the early possession, knocking the ball around their back line and looking to provide Toni Kroos and Luka Modric with space to work in. Chelsea have denied them any, pressing the ball quickly and maintaining a high defensive line.
Kick off: Real Madrid get the game underway by passing the ball into the back line. An aerial pass comes up the pitch towards striker Karim Benzema but he’s beaten to the ball by Thiago Silva. That one should be a good match up as the game progresses.
Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel, spoke with BT Sport before the start of tonight’s semi-final, touching on Chelsea’s approach to the match and how they’ll handle Real Madrid. He said:
We don’t need a miracle or an over performance we just - “just” in quotes - need our top level and then I am sure we can compete with Real Madrid for the final.
“We want to impose our style of play, our intensity and our quality. We have proved in many different games we are capable of playing in a high level.”
Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy has conceded just two goals in his first nine Champions League appearances - the record for fewest goals conceded in a goalkeeper’s first 10 matches is two, set by Keylor Navas between 2014 and 2016 for Real Madrid.
Chelsea’s Hakim Ziyech has been directly involved in six goals in seven Champions League starts in the knockout stage with four goals and two assists. He scored in his first two such appearances against Real Madrid, for Ajax in the 2018/19 last 16. The last player to score in their first three games against Real Madrid in the Champions League was Lucio between 2002-07.
Real Madrid’s president, Florentino Perez, was the most outspoken supporter for the ill-fated Super League, claiming the proposed competition would ‘save football’. Even with the seeming demise of the Super League Perez remains steadfast in his beliefs that the competition is the only way to go:
Zinedine Zidane and Thomas Tuchel are two of only 24 managers to have managed 15 or more Champions League matches in the knockout stages.
Zidane has the joint-best win ratio, alongside Luis Enrique, of these managers at 67%, with 18 victories from 27 matches, while Chelsea boss Tuchel has the seventh-best percentage at 53%, eight wins from 15.
Thomas Tuchel has faced Real Madrid more often without losing in the Champions League than against any other opponent with one win and three draws. In the competition’s history, the only other manager to face Los Blancos as many as four times without losing is Gerard Houllier, two wins, two draws.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
Africana55 Radio 
