CAN CHELSEA OVERTURN THEIR FORTUNES?

It’s the second leg of the most talked about game in the 2022/2023 UEFA Champions League competition as Chelsea will host the most decorated team in the history of the champions league Real Madrid.

With the Blues losing to the Los Blancos by 2-0 with 10 men, a chance for the two times champions to overturn the scoreline is at hand.

Chelsea will require one of their greatest-ever European performances if they are to overhaul a two-goal UEFA Champions League quarter-final deficit to Real Madrid. At the weekend, manager Frank Lampard described Saturday’s lacklustre 2-1 defeat to Brighton as “not a Chelsea performance” which would be far from encouraging as they look to end a run of six winless competitive results. However, the Blues boss believes that anything is possible in football as he revealed to the press.

Last week’s 2-0 defeat at the Bernabéu left them struggling to save their season with a run to UEFA Champions League glory, as interim boss Lampard bids to emulate Roberto Di Matteo’s feat of 2011/12. He doesn’t have to look back far for inspiration as even his predecessor Graham Potter oversaw Chelsea winning the second leg of their Round of 16 games to progress against Borussia Dortmund despite losing 1-0 on the road.

That should ensure Madrid travels with no hint of complacency, even if they are in fine fettle following their comfortable first-leg win. With a 36th La Liga title seemingly out of reach, they were able to rest players against their win over Cádiz on Saturday. However, they could be sweating on the fitness of key men Toni Kroos and Vinícius Júnior, both of whom were injury absentees.

With last month’s remarkable 5-2 win over Liverpool fresh in their memory, Los Blancos have now won three of their last four clashes with English clubs outside of Spain and just one loss including last season’s 3-1 victory here. So don’t expect the reigning champions to hold back after they netted in each of their last seven UEFA Champions League fixtures on foreign soil.

With the Blues missing out on the services of Aubameyang, Chilwell, Koulibaly, Badiashile, and Madueke, Real Madrid will still miss F. Mendy’s services.

By: Herosportgh.com/Solomon Duah (Sports Atom)