Another free pick for Champions League
2023-04-12
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In the new campaign for the Champions League title, Real Madrid will welcome Chelsea on their field in the first leg of the 1/4 finals. In my opinion, the bookmakers have underestimated the Madrid players and their chances of winning this trophy again this year. Real Madrid play in the Champions League on a really different level compared to the league and in it they provide the best games of the season. They enter this match after a 3-2 loss in the league at their home stadium against Villarreal, but it must be noted that as many as 6 players were rested in that match compared to the line-up from the match against Barcelona in which they won 4-0. Modric, Kroos, Valverde, Carvajal and Militao were on the bench, while Benzema left the game in the 60th minute. A slightly worse game was expected in that match, because the players who played from the first minute do not have the opportunity to play together often. The race for the title in Spain has already been decided, so Ancelotti himself stated that it was very difficult to find motivation for that match, but that the situation in this match will be significantly different. That defeat against Villarreal should not indicate to anyone the possible weakness of Real Madrid, especially not on their field and especially not in the Champions League. I honestly expect that from the very beginning of the match it will be the more dominant team on the field and that Chelsea will be in a subordinate position.
Chelsea are having a season to forget. In the Premier League, they are in 11th place in the table and only thanks to the bad results of the other teams, they are not in the danger zone, no matter how strange it sounds. The team seems to be extremely bad, starting from the management, through the coaches, to the players themselves. Before the international break, they had some hints of better games when they tied 3 wins, but they also had one draw against a very bad Everton at their stadium. After the break, they played 3 matches in which they had the effect of one draw and 2 losses, and they did not score a single goal in those matches. Before the last match in the league, the management decided to fire Potter, and although that in itself is a very bad move, they made an even worse move by bringing back Frank Lampard, who was fired due to the poor results he recorded in the first term. It was expected that the legend of the club would push the players already in the match against Wolves, but Chelsea deservedly lost that match in which they had only one shot on target. They have been playing without a classic striker for a long time, and this can be seen in the fact that they score less than one goal per match in the league. The middle of the field and the attack in most cases seem quite idealess and currently there is no player in the team who will pull his team forward. The situation in defense is not much better and their interventions do not instill security at all. Somewhat good news for Chelsea may be that Thiago Silva is most likely returning to the team, but he is a player who is 38 years old and has not played in the last 7 games. If he is on the field, he will have huge problems with the extremely fast attack of Real Madrid. A big chance for Real could be penetrations on the sidelines, which is their strongest weapon. On the one hand, Vinicius will cause big problems for James, while Chelsea will have even bigger problems on the left side, where Cucurella should guard Rodrygo. At the moment, Real Madrid seems to me to be a much more stable team and if we take into account the performances they are showing in the Champions League, I think they can turn this game in their favor. I expect that Chelsea will try to defend as long as possible in this game, aware of their possibilities, but if Real Madrid scores an early goal, they will also have to play more openly, which will only leave Madrid more space for dangerous attacks.
