Chelsea - Real: Fragile hope
Two goals from Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio gave Real an advantage when coming to Stamford Bridge, where they won 3-1 in the quarter-finals last season. The fact that Chelsea has not come out of the crisis after appointing Frank Lampard as interim coach predicts a similar result to reappear in the next encounter.
In addition to the home field advantage, Chelsea can hardly expect anything. They have not won the last six matches, including two draws and four losses. The last three matches, also the first three matches under the direction of Lampard, Chelsea lost to Wolves, Real and Brighton respectively. The crisis has not seen an exit, causing the Chelsea leadership to accelerate the process of finding a new coach, with Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique being two bright candidates.
Conor Gallagher's opener against Brighton helped Chelsea end a run of four games without a goal. But it was still a disappointing performance of the Chelsea attack in particular and the whole team in general, when they only controlled the ball 42% and were sometimes overwhelmed. Lampard even admitted Chelsea deserved to lose more.
What makes Chelsea fans optimistic is their upstream habits in the past. Chelsea have won five of the seven times they have been behind after the first leg away from a Champions League knock-out pair. The latest is in the 1/8 round, after losing 0-1 at Dortmund, Chelsea won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge thanks to Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz to continue.
"Anything can happen in football. Chelsea are clearly a competitive team and deserve to be in this round. We also understand very strong opponents. But if the whole team works hard, and Playing the way we intended, Chelsea can control the game," Lampard said at his pre-match press conference.
To help Chelsea continue, the former England midfielder needs to beat his old teacher Carlo Ancelotti. What is shown in the first leg partly represents the level difference between the two leaders. And with a two-goal difference, an experienced coach like Ancelotti can hardly make a mistake.
"Chelsea are struggling. But they can see this as an opportunity to revive the season. We see that and are cautious. Real will try to play to the best of their ability. The whole team is in a mental state. good as usual, before every important game. Real need to play a perfect game," Ancelotti said before the match. He also emphasized "90 minutes are still ahead and anything can happen" to warn his students.
In 19 times leading the opponent with a difference of at least two goals in the previous Champions League knockout round, Real went on to 18 times. The only time they were suddenly eliminated was when they lost to Monaco in the 2003-04 season because of the away goals rule - the rule was abandoned. If they continue, Real will set a record of six consecutive victories in the knockout round of the most prestigious tournament on the continent.
Chelsea not only struggled in form but also suffered a loss in force when Armando Broja, Kalidou Koulibaly and Carney Chukwuemeka were injured. Ben Chilwell was suspended by a red card in the first leg and Kai Havertz and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are unlikely to play. Real do not have Ferland Mendy but Vinicius Junior could return after being absent from the 2-0 win over Cadiz last weekend.
