As Chelsea visit Real Madrid on Tuesday night for the first leg of their Champions League semifinal tie, we have a “fun fact.” That being it’s a clash of the club with the most UCL semifinal appearances (14) in Madrid (two more than any other club) versus the side with the most semifinal appearances of any English club.
Chelsea have been here 8 times. Although these two sides have never met in the UCL, it is a matchup of the two clubs who drew the second most fans, to any football/soccer game ever staged on American soil. It was a friendly, held in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2016 and it is the highest attended Chelsea match in history.
Chelsea at Real Madrid UCL Semifinal Leg 1/2 FYIs
Kickoff: Tues April 27, Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, Madrid, 8pm
Team news for both sides: go here
Odds: Chelsea +220 Real Madrid +135 Draw +220
UCL Form Guide: Chelsea WDWWWL Real Madrid LWWWWD
All Competitions Form Guide: Chelsea WWLWDW Real Madrid WWDDWD
Let’s take a look at who could be in the first teams for both sides. The inclusion of Christian Pulisic in the press conference today means he’s likely to get a first team assignment tomorrow night.
Real Madrid Starting XI Prediction:
Courtois; Carvajal, Varane, Militao, Nacho; Casemiro, Kroos, Modric; Asensio, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
Chelsea FC Starting XI Prediction:
Mendy; Azpilicueta, Zouma, Rudiger; Christensen, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell; Mount, Pulisic; Havertz
Chelsea 1, Real Madrid 0
This is the worst Real Madrid team in several years, (which doesn’t mean they’re bad, it means they’re far below where they were) so Chelsea has really lucked out with their draw this tournament; they got very lucky in the last round too, with FC Porto.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.