champion with the champions

Two ghosts hovered Stamford Bridge last Wednesday. Two curses of enormous dimensions that are already a dead letter in Chamartín. Real Madrid had never beaten either Chelsea or Tuchel in an official match. Something had the London blue that for years had choked the Madrid team; like something Tuchel had on his board and in his head that acted as a chronic cyst for a team that, seeing Chelsea’s ball come out in the draw, quickly thought that this tie was more of an opportunity than a scarethe perfect juncture to slam the door on these statistics. And to once again eliminate the current champion, something that Madrid has always done when it has been played in front of them.

But let’s go by parts. Real Madrid and Chelsea, until Wednesday night, had met five times in an official match: three defeats and two draws, that was the baggage for the whites. The first time they met was in the 1971 Cup Winners’ Cup final and the second, in the repetition of that same final. Because on their first date the score was tied (Osgood opened the can and Zoco did the 1-1 final); it was in the second when the blues, only two days later, pronounced sentence (Osgood scored again and Dempsey executed; Fleitas gave life for a short time). The third time was in 1998 European Super Cup finalwith victory for the English thanks to a goal of Poyet. And the last ones, in the eliminatory of last year championswith a draw at Di Stéfano and a KO at Stamford Bridge. Madrid has indeed beaten Chelsea in friendlies (2013 and 2016 International Champions Cup).

As far as Tuchel respect, the number of madridista victories, until this Wednesday, was exactly the same as against Chelsea: zero. Up to six times, six, the Krumbach coach had faced Real Madrid, remaining undefeated. In the 2016-17 Champions League, directing the Borussia Dortmundcrossed paths with the meringues in the group stage, finishing both parties in draws to two. In fact, both had very cruel scripts with the people of Madrid: at the Bernabéu, after going 2-0, Reus ended up equalizing in 88′; while at Signal Iduna Park it was Schürrle who equalized in 87′. Then another group stage would come with PSG, in the 2019-20 edition. There was no movie in Paris, with a blushing 3-0 in favor of the Parisians; while in Madrid, once again, the whites threw away a 2-0 lead to see how Mbappé and Sarabia matched them. To complete the statistics you have to return, again, to the tie against Chelsea last yearwhere Tuchel was already a coach blue.

A matareyes king

But there is a statistic that the whites have very much to face after Wednesday’s 1-3: whenever they came across the current champion they eliminated him. The second leg remains, something to which the entire white dressing room, in the last stages, appealed to him, to the caution. “There are still 90 minutes left at the Bernabéu and you have to respect Chelsea, who are the current champions,” he said. casemiro. “I think that Chelsea have not shown their best version tonight. The tie is not over and football changes a lot,” he added. Ancelotti. “We can’t think that it’s done, because it isn’t. Football is like that, an early goal from them can put them right in,” he settled. Courteous.

But the newspaper library supports optimism. Up to four times he has crossed destiny to Real Madrid with which he was, at that time, the current European champion. And in all four the whites passed. The first time was in 1997-98, in which Madrid eliminated the Dortmund, then champion having defeated Juventus in the final. Two years later, the victim was the Manchester United, in a historic match due to Redondo’s backheel. In 2002, they sent to the canvas the Bayern Munich; while in 2014, the madridistas once again eliminated the bavarians with an ode to football at the Allianz. Despite the cautionary flag waved by the current Real Madrid, the result at Stamford Bridge allows the fans to hope that their champion can once again eliminate a champion.