Chelsea were handed arguably the most difficult Champions League quarter-final tie possible following their last-16 win against Borussia Dortmund. The Blues were picked out to take on holders Real Madrid and the first leg is now upon is as interim boss Frank Lampard takes his team to Spain to do battle with Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid.
Given the fact Chelsea sit in the bottom half of the Premier League table, and are without a win in April, Madrid are firm favourites to advance. However, Los Blancos, who sit second in La Liga, aren't exactly in scintillating form after losing at the weekend to Villareal meaning the gap to leaders Barcelona moved up to 13 points.
But in knockout competitions, Madrid have reigned supreme, beating their El Clasico rivals 4-1 over two legs to seal a spot in the Copa Del Rey final. In the previous round, Madrid put six past Liverpool over 180 minutes of football which included a dominant 5-2 win at Anfield.
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At the same stage of last season's Champions League, Chelsea pushed Madrid to the absolute limit pegging, back a 3-1 first leg deficit to lead the tie before a late equaliser from Rodrygo and eventual extra-time winner from Benzema.
However, this time round at Santiago Bernabeu, Chelsea's league form is damning and that is reason enough for former defender William Gallas to predict that Madrid will enter the last four at the expense of his old club.
Speaking to GentingCasino, he said: "Chelsea are not doing too well at the moment, they are not performing for many reasons. But in the Champions League, they have performed very well. Now they play Real Madrid, who are in the same situation because they cannot win La Liga. So they will put everything into the Champions League.
"Last season they won it and we know how strong they are. It will be a difficult game for Chelsea, they have a lot of problems.
"I don’t think Chelsea will qualify from the tie. I don’t think it will be a heavy defeat, but even if they win at Stamford Bridge, going away to Real Madrid will be really hard. So I will say Chelsea could possibly win the at Stamford Bridge but I don’t see Chelsea advancing overall."
Alongside offering their pick for who will be in and win the final come June 10, the CBS panel of Jamie Carragher, Micah Richards and Thierry Henry each offered a small description of why they think Madrid best Chelsea.
On CBS Sports, Carragher said: “Has to be Real Madrid because Todd Boehly hasn’t got a clue what he’s doing." Richards agreed, adding: "It's going to be tough, but I’m going to go with Real Madrid." Henry then offered two simple words as his answer: "Real Madrid."
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