Real – Chelsea: What miracle for the King?

Real got one foot in the semi-finals after won 3-1 in the first leg right at Stamford Bridge, thanks to Karim Benzema’s hat-trick. After that match, teachers and students Carlo Ancelotti even heated up the second leg with win Getafe 2-0 to get close to the La Liga championship. Dani Carvajal, Ferland Mendy, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric were all suspended for that match, while David Alaba, Casemiro, Nacho, Benzema and Vinicius did not play the full 90 minutes.

With the maintenance of the pillar, Ancelotti can use the same formation as the first leg, except that midfielder Nacho is likely to replace Eder Militao. Real rarely rotates their squad this season, but did before the second leg against Chelsea. In addition to the home field advantage, they have an outstanding advantage against Chelsea.

Of course, Chelsea won’t give up. They ran as well as 6-0 win at Southampton’s field last weekend. Timo Werner scored twice to regain confidence, besides three situations where shots hit the post or the crossbar. He will most likely be used in the second leg, when Chelsea want to attack more strongly.

In the first leg, some positions of Chelsea played like “ghosts”, such as striker Christian Pulisic. You could lose your position to Werner. Besides Thomas Tuchel There is also a high possibility of using left-back Marcos Alonso, instead of letting Cesar Azpilicueta play on the left. Alonso has a tendency to move forward as a winger, penetrating the box to score. This Azpilicueta has not been able to do often, especially when he has to play against his forte.

Chelsea will be without striker Romelu Lukaku due to injury but this is not a big problem because the Belgian striker has not been in high form for a long time. It was Lukaku who missed a few good opportunities when he came on in the second half of the first leg. And Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ross Barkley and Ben Chilwell are still long-term injuries and have not set a return date.

In the quarter-finals of 2018, Real beat Juventus 3-0 in the first leg in Turin, but lost 0-3 in the second leg at the Bernabeu. Thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo’s last-minute penalty kick, Zinedine Zidane’s teachers and students went on and then won the championship.

Real has the ability to break the game, but the question is whether Chelsea can afford to do so. No Chelsea player has scored more than three goals in the Champions League this season. Kai Havertz’s talent is not enough to help the London club turn the situation around. “Having to beat Real by two goals at the Bernabeu is almost impossible,” Tuchel said in a press conference on April 11. “We have to perform beyond our limits.”

In other words, Chelsea needed a miracle. Otherwise, Real will continue to be the only team capable of defending the championship in Champions League history.

Probable teams

Real: Courtois; Carvajal, Nacho, Alaba, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius

Chelsea: Mendy; Christensen, Silva, Rudiger; James, Kovacic, Kante, Alonso; Ziyech, Mount; Havertz

Hoang An