The danger has not yet passed

“This team lives by winning impossible matches”, Casemiro argued yesterday to explain the singularity of Madrid. This against Chelsea is not and that is why the previous atmosphere was filled with warnings, many of them to the public, who will complete the near 61,000 locations available. And it is that the fans of Madrid are more climbing than flat and there are close precedents that warn of the danger. In the last Champions won by the team, in 2018, they suffered extraordinarily in the second leg of the quarterfinals and semifinals after having managed in the first leg to defeat Juventus (0-3) Y Bayern (1-2), respectively. A year later, Ajax eliminated Madrid at the Bernabeú after a 1-2 draw in Amsterdam. And Chelsea, still champions of the tournament, have achieved five away results this season that would qualify them for the semi-finals and another five that would take them to extra time.

“It will be necessary to play as in the first leg”, was the second most repeated message by the madridista representation before the media. Something completely different will have to be done, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel suggested. who in the space of a week saw his team play the worst game of the season (1-4 loss to Brentford) and the best (0-6 at Southampton).

Tuchel was a modest player (Augsburg, Kickers, Ulm) who He graduated in Business Administration perhaps convinced that he would not live from this, but he was already the best of his promotion in the coaches course. He later did great in the lower categories of various teams and at Mainz until he ended up at Borussia Dortmund, where he brought some revolutionary ideas. Little friend of repetition exercises and with variable drawings, he likes to defend himself with the ball. Even in the first leg, despite the disaster, he surpassed Madrid in possession. At Mainz, to correct his players’ propensity to play long, he cut the corners of the field to force them to move on a diamond. He also scheduled a joint training session with the Alba Berlin basketball squad. Still third in the Premier, artificial intelligence records recognize an offensive performance superior to those of City and Liverpool.

Kovacic aims to start

Today is expected again a Chelsea with three central defenders, like in London, but perhaps with Marcos Alonso instead of Azpilicueta, recovered from COVID. Kovacic can take a place from Kanté to play alongside Jorginho and above it is not ruled out that Tuchel pull Werner, author of two goals against Southampton and starter last year in Valdebebas, well at the start, well during the duel.

Werner is a singular case. He has played little, he offers the worst performance data of the squad, according to Olocip, and yet he is, with Havertz, the team’s top scorer in the Champions League and the one with the best percentage of success of all the forwards throughout the season: a goal every 183 minutes, ahead of Havertz, Mount or Lukaku. The Belgian, whose entry into the second half sowed some confusion in Madrid’s defense, will not be here today due to injury. A notable drop if Chelsea needs a final rush.

A tactical revolution is not expected in the blues. “Before important games is not the time to learn new things. As a general rule, the more relevant the game, the less new information we give,” the coach has repeated on occasion. Nor does it seem that Madrid will touch too much. Mendy recovered, Kroos and Modric had the rest they needed on Saturday when a rival of great physical display and Valverde showed that he is a hundred-meter footballer. With him, Madrid can, as appropriate, defend with five, have a fourth midfielder and even find a winger with such good performance as Rodrygo or Asensio.

statistics is white

Ancelotti’s team, and this is attested to by UEFA’s figures, has differentiating factors in the competition. The most notable, Benzema, author of eleven goals, only one less than Lewandowski when the Pole has taken two more penalties, top finisher (34 shots, 18 of them on goal) and striker with better performance outside the area. take two hat-trick consecutive in this Champions. And he is not alone. Vinicius is the third assist and first dribbler, no other goalkeeper has stopped more balls than Courtois, Modric and Kroos are second and third passing midfielders, respectively, with success rates above 90%, and Militao, who will not be able to play due to suspension (Nacho will be his relief), he appears as the second footballer who recovers the most balls. No one at Chelsea has such high values ​​despite the fact that his squad is valued at almost 140 million more.

“Coming back is unlikely. We will have to exceed our limits,” said Tuchel at the previous press conference. The success of Madrid will depend on not being fooled by that sheepskin.