UCL: Real Madrid v Chelsea Preview

Chelsea travel to the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium to face Los Blancos in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday.

Real Madrid won in their last 16 match 4-1 on aggregate against Atalanta and won their quarter final 3-1 on aggregate against Liverpool.

For Chelsea, they beat Real Madrid’s city neighbours Atletico Madrid 3-0 on aggregate, and they then beat Porto 2-1 on aggregate in the quarter finals.

Former Chelsea man Eden Hazard is available for Los Blancos. Real Madrid will be without Sergio Ramos who has a calf problem. Lucas Vásquez and Ferland Mendy are both injured and will miss the game. Federico Valverde is also unavailable as he is in isolation after testing positive for coronavirus.

Mateo Kovacic is unavailable to face his former side, as he is struggling with a hamstring injury. Other than Kovacic, Chelsea has no other injury or suspension issues.

Real Madrid and Chelsea have only faced each other three times in competitive fixtures. In 1971, the teams drew 1-1 in the Cup Winners Cup final, which led to a final replay. Chelsea won the replay 2-1 thanks to goals from John Dempsey and Peter Osgood.

The teams last meeting took place in 1998, when the two sides met in the UEFA Super Cup, which saw Chelsea win 1-0 with a goal from Gus Poyet.

The game will likely be cagey, with Real Madrid looking to take a lead to Stamford Bridge and Chelsea looking for an away goal and to keep the fixture close.