Seeking to spark a phenomenal turnaround against this season

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Seeking to spark a phenomenal turnaround against this season’s Champions League comeback kings, Chelsea visit the Bernabeu for the second leg of their European quarter-final on Tuesday night. The defending champions head to the Spanish capital after being sunk 3-1 in the first leg at Stamford Bridge, with one illustrious Frenchman doing the damage on the night.

It’s advantage Real Madrid after beating Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarter-final as they bid to avoid a quarter-final exit for the first time since 2003/04. Yet after going two goals down on aggregate in the previous round, before beating Paris Saint-Germain, they’ll take nothing for granted against the reigning champions.

They should still be confident after winning their last three home UCL matches and drawing 1-1 here against Chelsea in the semi-finals last term. And with only one defeat across their last nine home UCL matches against English clubs (W5, D3), history favours ‘Los Blancos’, who took another step towards the La Liga title with Saturday’s 2-0 win over Getafe.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel got the response he needed after a lengthy chocolate-fuelled debrief of their first-leg defeat when they hammered Southampton 6-0 on Saturday. It’s given Chelsea fans at least some hope of seeing their side make a third European semi-final in four seasons, even if after the home leg the German said he felt the tie was over.

Encouragingly, that Southampton win was Chelsea’s sixth competitive away game in a row in which they netted at least twice (W6), the minimum requirement needed at the Santiago Bernabéu. But they’ll also need to hold firm at the back as although the ‘Blues’ are unbeaten in four matches as the nominated away side against Spanish opponents (W2, D2), only one of those victories was by 2+ goals.

Date: 12/04/2022
Time: 22:00
Venue: Estadio Santiago Bernabéu (Madrid)
Pick for this match:
“1”- @ 2.45 ( BETWINNER )