A beautiful revenge. Chelsea and Real Madrid will meet next Wednesday evening in the quarterfinals of the first leg of the Champions League. A year ago, the two behemoths of European football already crossed each other in the semi-finals. After a draw in the first leg (1-1), the Blues eventually won in front of their own audience (2-0) before lifting the cup with big ears. This Wednesday it’s time for revenge for the Merengues! But they will struggle against the team led by Thomas Tuchel.
Tonight, during a meeting led by Frenchman Clément Turpin, the German has to bet on 3-4-3. In the cages, that’s no surprise, because it’s Edouard Mendy who has been in line from the start. For him, the trio Rüdiger-Thiago Silva-Azpilicueta will have a job to muzzle Madrid’s attacking armada. In midfield, Marcos Alonso, Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Reece James should start this match. Finally, Pulisic and Ziyech have chances to back Kai Havertz, who is preferable to Romelu Lukaku up front. However, it is possible that according to some media Tuchel will bet on Mount instead of Ziyech.
Tuchel and Ancelotti, duel at the top
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach therefore risks drawing heavy artillery to take the best of Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid. The latter was also unsure whether he would be at Stamford Bridge tonight. Positive for covid-19, he had to take another test today. This turned out to be negative. So the Italian makes an emergency trip to London. So he will find his old club an advantage if he faces him. With or without him on the bench, the Merengues should start in 4-3-3.
Thibaut Courtois, former Chelsea player, will be there. For him it should be classic with, from left to right, Ferland Mendy, David Alaba, Eder Militão and Dani Carvajal. Ditto at the heart of the game with the Kroos-Casemiro-Modric trio whose mission will be to win the battle in the middle. Finally, series scorer Karim Benzema will start. By his side we should find Vinicius Jr and Valverde. Unless Ancelotti bets on Rodrygo instead, who, according to the Spanish press, is probably one of the eleven. A nice poster in perspective can be followed live on our site from 9 pm.†
