Tuesday’s second UEFA Champions League quarterfinal takes place in Madrid, where Real hosts Chelsea. Los Blancos were wonderful in the opening leg, smashing the reigning European champions in their own house, 1-3, with Karim Benzema posting a hat-trick and proving that he is still one of the best strikers in the world. Even though many believe that this matchup is solved, we wouldn’t be so sure. A wounded lion is always dangerous, and as the Blues have nothing to lose, the pressure here is on Real.
Preview
Real Madrid (+135) played a magnificent game at Stamford Bridge, the place where they suffered a tough blow last year, once Chelsea beat them in the UCL semis. This time, there was no hope for the hosts who were knocked out by Benzema. Truth be told, the entire team played well, but he executed each time when needed.
Los Blancos won the last three games in a row, eight of the past nine, in all of them scoring at least two goals. Despite looking like a team that prefers to defend first and attack later, Real is in fact, very, very efficient.
Their record in the recent 10 games is at home is seven wins, one loss, and two draws, with only one event in the past five ending under 2.5 scores.
Chelsea (+200) bounced back perfectly following two consecutive losses at Stamford. After being hammered against Brentford, 1-4, and Real, they rolled over Southampton on the road, 0-6. This performance was yet another proof that they play better on the road than at home.
For the moment, the Blues have eight straight triumphs away from Stamford Bridge, across all the competitions. In the last six, we saw Werner, Havertz, and the boys scoring at least two goals.
It will be interesting to see Tuchel’s tactics for Madrid because his gameplans in the situations when Chelsea defends are much better than in those when they have to dictate the tempo and attack.
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The hosts won’t have Eden Hazard, Chelsea’s former star. Isco is out as well as Mendy, all of them due to various injuries. Luka Jovic won’t be in the protocol, and the young Serbian will probably leave Real this summer. In the end, Eder Militao will skip this game due to a yellow card suspension.
Azpilicueta is injured, the same as Ben Chilwell, while Callum Hudson-Odoi has issues with his Achilles. Romelu Lukaku will be a game-time decision.
Head to Head Games
Last year’s game at Bernabeu ended 1-1. After that, Chelsea beat Real 2-0 at home to reach the finals.
Real had a clinic at Stamford seven days ago, beating the hosts, 1-3. As said, Benzema netted three times for the guests while Havertz put his name on the scoresheet on Chelsea’s side.
Prediction
We think that this game won’t see too many goals, in our opinion, it will be between 2 and 3. Ancelotti will close all the paths towards his goal, and the experienced Italian will know how to decrease the pace and the tempo of play. The odds for this pick are +105, which is a solid offer.
Pick: 2 or 3 goals +105
Here are more previews for the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals.
Nikola Velickovic is a sports journalist who loves to write and read on all sports. Nikola contributes both news updates and functions as a sports breaking news writer at WagerBop.
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