Real Madrid vs Chelsea

Real Madrid’s Champions League title defense continues at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu as they welcome out-of-sorts Chelsea in the first leg of their exciting quarter-final tie.

Real Madrid coasted to a 6-2 aggregate triumph over Liverpool in the opening Champions League knockout round to reach the competition’s quarter-finals for the third season on the trot. A 1-0 home victory in the second leg extended Madrid’s phenomenal scoring run to 30 consecutive Champions League outings at the Bernabeu. Moreover, ‘Los Merengues’ have now progressed from nine two-legged knockout ties in the Champions League versus English clubs, including the last four in a row. However, Carlo Ancelotti’s decision to bench several key first-team figures backfired on Madrid at the weekend as they slumped to a 3-2 home loss to fellow La Liga rivals Villarreal, only a few days after demolishing arch-rivals Barcelona 4-0 in the return leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final contest.

In the meantime, Frank Lampard’s interim charge of Chelsea was off to a woeful start as the ‘Pensioners’ succumbed to a 1-0 defeat at Premier League strugglers Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. Stuck in the lower reaches and faced with the risk of a first bottom-half finish in the Premier League since 1995/96, the ‘Blues’ will seek redemption in Europe, where they’ve fared reasonably well this term. After finishing top of Group E, Chelsea pulled off a second-leg comeback to overcome Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on aggregate in the round of 16, setting up a third straight knockout engagement against Madrid. Interestingly, the winners of the last two ties have gone on to win the trophy. Despite only winning once in their last 13 competitive away matches in the build-up to this trip (D3, L8), Chelsea can draw confidence from their impressive run in Spain, having only lost once in their last nine Champions League knockout stage games away to Spanish opposition (W3, D5).