Chelsea hasn’t encountered the most relaxed Premier League season. As well as being without fans for most of the campaign, the Stamford Bridge side was forced to sack manager Frank Lampard following a poor run of results. They replaced him with new boss Thomas Tuchel and now face a battle to secure another top-four finish in the league.

Despite their uninspiring domestic form, the Blues are firing on all cylinders in the Champions League and are involved in the last four of the competition. Many fans are now backing Chelsea at the top sports betting sites to win the UEFA’s highest club football award for the second time. 

Can they do it and again become kings of Europe? To stand any chance, they must defeat the giants of Real Madrid in the semis.

Chelsea


 

"Chelsea" by Getty is licensed under CC BY 3.0 

Late Chilwell goal proves crucial

Chelsea booked their place in the semi-final to face off against the La Liga champions by eliminating Porto in the quarters. It was a tense affair, but the London club stumbled through despite suffering a 1-0 home defeat at the bridge in the second leg of the tie. The damage was done in the first leg in Portugal, but fans knew their side was somewhat fortunate to still be in the tournament.

The English club went to Porto on April 7 and caused a bit of an upset when securing a crucial 2-0 away win. Any victory on the road in this competition is huge but to win to nil while grabbing two away goals is something special. It was to prove enough to fend off a spirited fightback two weeks later in the return leg.

Goals from Mount and Chilwell gave Chelsea the cushion they so desperately required, with the latter scoring on 85 minutes. A 1-0 away win would have been a positive result, but at the final whistle in the quarter-final tie, Chilwell’s late second sent his employers through to face Madrid.

Mixed emotions at Stamford Bridge

It was a night of mixed emotions for Chelsea fans watching the second leg live on television from Stamford Bridge. Tuchel’s men knew they had done the difficult part but needed to protect their two-goal lead to progress. They achieved that, but one just with Porto scoring a surprise 1-0 win in London.

Despite starting the match as hot favourites with all respected betting sites, Chelsea found Porto to be a dogged opponent, one that hadn’t realised the tie was over. Porto knew they had to go on the attack at Chelsea. The pressure was on them to score goals and keep things tight at the back, and that’s just what they did.

Porto controlled the play for long periods, encouraged by the defensive set-up of their opponent. They created chances to score but failed to find the net until Taremi broke through on 93 minutes. An away win for Porto, but it was too little too late to keep them in it. The 1-0 victory cost Porto their place in the Champions League, losing 2-1 on aggregate.

Chelsea

"Chelsea" by Getty is licensed under CC BY 3.0 

Blues encouraged by the stats

Chelsea fans know there were better draws than the one that matched them with Real Madrid in the semi-final, but the players understand that they have to beat the best to be the best. That’s exactly what they aim to do against Blancos in the last four.

The head-to-head stats offer encouragement to everyone connected with Chelsea. These sides have met in competitive action only three times previously, and Real Madrid has never recorded a victory over Chelsea. The head-to-head shows two wins for the English side and one draw.

The first meeting was a Euro Cup Winners Cup 1-1 draw in 1971 before Chelsea won the replay by a 2-1 scoreline just three days later. The most recent Chelsea vs Real Madrid fixture gave us a famous 1-0 win for the Blues in the 1998 European Super Cup. Gus Poyet scored the winning goal at the Stade Louis II that day, finding the net inside the last 10 minutes to make history. The teams must now play over two legs with the first game in Madrid and the return a week later in London.

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