Chelsea will travel to Santiago Bernabeu this Wednesday to face Champions League holders Real Madrid in the first leg of their 2022/23 UCL quarter-finals.
Both sides have been meeting regularly recently, with this being their third straight meeting in this competition, having faced themselves on their way to the title win in 2021 (Chelsea) and 2022 (Real Madrid).
But for this edition, Carlo Ancelottin’s men are the favourites as they come into this tie in better shape than their rivals. This is despite a shocking 3-2 loss to Villarreal last weekend.
But they could be forgiven for taking their eyes off that game, given that they were already 12 points behind Barcelona in the title race before the weekend. So this competition has become a must-win for them this season, and they will undoubtedly be throwing everything at winning Europe’s premier club competition to salvage their faltering season.
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Considering that they have won their last four meetings with English clubs, including last year’s final against Liverpool, Madrid certainly shouldn’t fear Chelsea’s arrival.
Meanwhile, Chelsea’s Premier League woes continued at the weekend, despite the arrival of former boss and player Frank Lampard. The Chelsea legend could not get them back to winning ways against Wolves, who took home maximum points (1-0 win).
The Blues’ 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund to get this far was the high point of Graham Potter’s brief reign, so they can be expected to raise their game again as they search for a third UCL title.
Having triumphed 3-2 after extra time here last season despite ultimately losing 5-4 on aggregate, the Blues haven’t lost an away game on Spanish soil since March 2018 (W2, D2), which includes two visits to the Spanish capital to take on Real Madrid (W1, D1).
However, they were beaten 1-0 by Dortmund in the first leg of their last-16 match in Germany, so they can take nothing for granted, especially as they’ve won just one of their last 13 competitive away games (D3, L9).
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