Match preview: Chelsea face “mission impossible” against Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge

Chelsea will be looking to overturn a daunting two goal deficit tomorrow evening when Real Madrid turn up to London for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League. 

The first leg, contested in Real Madrid’s famous Santiago Bernabeu, ended 2-0 and was not a performance that Chelsea manager Frank Lampard would have been proud of. Chelsea failed to create many clear cut chances and the players look void of energy and belief. Tomorrow, that simply has to be different if Chelsea are to progress through to the Semi-Finals of the prestigious competition. 

One would describe tomorrow as “mission impossible”.

Real Madrid : 

What needs to be said really? Even if Real Madrid currently sit fourteen points behind Barcelona in the La Liga table, we all know that the UEFA Champions League is their bread and butter. 

Manager Carlo Ancelotti would have surely been slightly concerned last time out against Chelsea – despite winning the match 2-0, Real did not play up to their usual standards and on a better day, they could have blown this subpar Chelsea side away. 

However, the Blues do stand a slim chance tomorrow but worryingly for them, Real Madrid are surely going to turn up for the occasion and play near their best this time around. With the experience that Real Madrid have in their squad in the likes of Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Rudiger and more, they are sure to make the task near on impossible for a Chelsea side that have lost three straight games in a row under Frank Lampard. 

Real travel to the match with just one injury concern, talented left-back Ferland Mendy is unavailable to play and has not travelled with the squad. Edouardo Camavinga deputised for him in the left-back position in the first leg of this quarter-final tie and it could be the same again in London this time around.

There is no doubt in my mind that Real will look to quieten the expected noisy Stamford Bridge crowd down early with a goal that should realistically kill off the tie. Los Blancos will press aggressively from the first minute in order to seek that goal with Karim Benzema and Vinicius two players that Chelsea could have nightmares against when trying to build up play. 

Chelsea : 

The Blues are enduring their worst season in many years, after sacking Graham Potter and bringing interim Frank Lampard in until the end of the season, the club have failed to win any of their first three matches since the change, conceding five goals in the process and scoring just once. 

In the league, Chelsea need to gain eleven points in their remaining seven league matches in order to even match their record lowest points tally of fifteen, set in 1995/96 and 2015/16. 

Regardless of form, Chelsea certainly have the players to pull off a mesmerising comeback tomorrow evening and one off matches can cause upsets, if Chelsea can get an early goal in the first half hour, anything can happen. 

However, tomorrow’s outlook is certainly negative when analysing the first three games under Frank Lampard and when your manager hints that the team is not fit enough, realism needs to be taken into consideration from a fan’s perspective ahead of tomorrow night.

Speaking ahead of the second leg tomorrow, Frank was asked about the training sessions so far and said : “It is more about speaking to the players individually. When we do get the chance to work, I think the team needs some physical work. I think that’s important for us because at this level you have to be right on the limit and we are not on the limit right now” 

Lampard confirmed that Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz had returned to training but as expected, defender Kalidou Koulibaly will miss tomorrow’s match due to a hamstring injury he picked up in the first leg of the tie : 

“A hamstring injury, it will be a matter of weeks rather than days. He’s a very good, very experienced player. It’s a disappointment for him and for us, but opportunity and we carry on without him. Hopefully, he gets fit as quick as he can” 

It would be fair to say that Chelsea fans were happy to see Lampard return for the simple fact he is a club legend and perhaps their greatest ever player, but even the diehard fans of Lampard know that he was sacked already once before as Chelsea manager in 2021 due to poor results and fallings out with players and these latest comments spark concerns in my head about his coaching ability. 

No wonder Chelsea have looked clueless in all three games so far under his management if they are doing basic training and not working on tactics of our own and preparing in the best way possible on a physical and again tactical side for our opponents. 

After Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly was seen walking towards the dressing room with reports suggesting that he was in there for up to 1 hour speaking to the players and manager. 

Words and words but tactics are more important, Chelsea can show up with the same levels of motivation as they did against Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of the round of 16 but they are going to need more than that tomorrow night. One feels that Chelsea would not be in this position coming into this second leg against Real Madrid had Graham Potter stayed.

In my opinion, Frank Lampard needs to start Mykhailo Mudryk in the front three of a back three and have him go up against Carvajal. In the first leg, Mykhailo looked like the perfect sub to bring on at half time as the space in behind Real Madrid’s defence was prevalent. 

Mykahilo showed promising signs against Brighton on Saturday and assisted the goal for Conor Gallagher. Chelsea signed Mudryk to terrorise defences and going straight back to the bench after a good individual performance would be a big mistake from Lampard in a time where Chelsea need players with confidence and attacking threat. 

One could argue that Lampard should line up the team in a back four formation, but I personally believe that the 3-4-3 formation offers better balance, familiarity and a greater attacking threat. The wider debate will be who deputises at left-wing back instead of Ben Chilwell after his sending-off in the first leg. Could Chelsea go extra attacking with a winger at wing-back? What could be the consequences if so? Interesting questions and we may only get the answers during the match tomorrow.

The game will go one of two ways, Chelsea will get an early goal and the possibility of a comeback and another special Champions League night at Stamford Bridge will rise, or more likely, Real Madrid will outclass Chelsea with superior Football driven by the game plan of veteran coach and former Chelsea manager himself, Carlo Ancelotti.

One way or another, the difference makers for either side are likely to include Reece James, Kai Havertz, Vinicius and Karim Benzema. 

Predicted line ups : 

Chelsea : (3-4-3) Kepa, Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella, James, Enzo, Kante, Pulisic, Felix, Havertz, Mudryk.

Real Madrid : (4-3-3) Courtois, Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Camavinga, Kroos, Modric, Valverde, Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius.

My final thoughts are more my emotions getting in the way of reality. My heart tells me that the players react to the weekend defeat and turn up for this huge tie and lay down a statement victory that progresses us into the next round with the media going into shock at just how a team who has been so bad all season knocked out the current holders of the competition from the brink of death. 

However, if I am looking at things with just my pure brain and no bias, Chelsea are likely to go down fighting but will not have enough to overturn the two goal deficit due to the tactical inefficiency from Lampard and potentially missed chances. 

Experience also plays a big factor on occasions like tomorrow and Real Madrid have way more of it than this current Chelsea squad, we lack leaders and we lack the spine of the old Chelsea sides and unfortunately, fans should prepare for more misery in the upcoming weeks until the issues can be addressed in the Summer with a new managerial appointment and squad re build in the transfer market.