Team
news, stats, kick-off time ahead of the Champions League semi-final second
leg between Chelsea and Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Team news
Mateo Kovacic remains sidelined for Chelsea, having picked up an injury
ahead of the quarter-final win over Porto, but the rest of the squad will be
fit.
Antonio Rudiger is available after missing out on Saturday's 2-0 win at
Fulham with a facial injury and is set to wear a protective mask if he
plays.
Chelsea drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in the first leg last week, with Christian
Pulisic nabbing a vital away goal for the Blues.
Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde has recovered from Covid and after
testing negative, has travelled to London with the rest of the squad.
However, Zinedine Zidane will be without Raphael Varane, who picked up an
abductor injury at the weekend. Dani Carvajal is sidelined with a hamstring
injury he suffered during the first leg last week.
However, Real could replace Varane with captain Sergio Ramos after he
returned to training at the end of last week. The 35-year-old defender has
not featured since playing for Spain at the end of March.
Marcelo will also be able to join his team-mates, despite being chosen to
work at a Madrid polling station as part of local elections. Reports in
Spain on Tuesday morning said the Brazilian turned up around 8am at the
Liceo Europeo in La Moraleja to fulfil his duties as an assistant but was
excused and allowed to return home after being substituted by one of the
main electoral council members.
Opta stats
Chelsea will face Real Madrid for the fifth time in European competition,
while they are unbeaten against them in the previous four (W2 D2). This will
be the first time across the five meetings that Chelsea have hosted the
Spanish side.
Real Madrid are winless in their last four away games against English sides
in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L2), scoring only two goals across the four
games. Their last such victory was against Liverpool back in October 2014,
winning 3-0 in the group stage.
Chelsea have progressed from five of their last seven knockout ties in the
UEFA Champions League when avoiding defeat away from home in the first leg.
However, one of these two eliminations came in their last semi-final
appearance in the competition, versus Atlético de Madrid in 2013-14 (0-0 in
first leg, 1-3 in second leg).
Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is looking to secure his fourth
progression in four UEFA Champions League semi-final ties, which would equal
the record for most semi-final tie progressions by a manager in competition
history (4 - along with Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi).
Chelsea are aiming to reach their third UEFA Champions League final, which
would take them just one behind Manchester United and Liverpool (both four)
for most final appearances in the competition by an English team.
Real Madrid could seal their place in a 17th European Cup/UEFA Champions
League final, with their current total of 16 already being the most of any
team. Progression here would set up Zinedine Zidane's fourth UEFA Champions
League final in charge of Real Madrid, as many as the club had managed in
the competition before he took charge (four).
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has only lost four of his 18 home games as a
manager in the UEFA Champions League (W12 D2), with his sides scoring 48
goals across these fixtures - an average of 2.7 per game.
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has scored 71 goals in the UEFA Champions
League and could become the outright fourth top scorer in the competition's
history if he scores in this game, overtaking Raúl (71).
Chelsea's Mason Mount (22y 115d) could become the second-youngest English
player to score in a UEFA Champions League semi-final, after Wayne Rooney in
2007 (21y 182d v Milan). The last English player to score for Chelsea in a
semi-final in this competition was Frank Lampard in 2008, netting versus
Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
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