FRUSTRATE THEM, BE PATIENT... AND POUNCE!
I MAKE it 51 Champions League winners’ medals between Real Madrid’s players and their manager Zinedine Zidane. Between Chelsea’s players and Thomas Tuchel, there are just three. All three of those to Mateo Kovacic, by the way, who won them with Real in 2016, 2017 and 2018 — and the Croatian is injured for tonight’s clash! There is no doubt which of these sides is the more experienced heading into the semi-finals. The way Tuchel’s Chelsea knock out Zidane’s Real is by frustrating them, by being patient and pouncing. After finishing the job against Porto in their quarter-final second leg, Tuchel said: ‘Part of a performance is to not let the other (team) perform and we did this.’ He takes pride in that. Tuchel immediately introduced a back three after taking over from Frank Lampard and he always uses two sitting midfielders. With that base, and Thiago Silva in defence, they know how to stop opponents finding a breakthrough. Karim Benzema is the big threat. He’s Real’s top scorer on 27 goals — the next nearest is on six. Stop him and Chelsea might be in a healthy position heading into the return leg at Stamford Bridge.
CHELSEA are used to dominating possession in the Premier League. They have had more than 50 per cent in 13 of their 14 games since Tuchel took charge. In the one game they had less than 50 per cent, they beat Liverpool at Anfield courtesy of a counter-attack finished by Mason Mount. That’s how I expect Chelsea would like tonight to play out. The hosts are bound to see most of the ball, so the visitors may have to rely more on using their pace on the break. So Mount, Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech should start, with Christian Pulisic, Kai Havertz and Callum
Hudson-Odoi as impactful options off the bench. Remember, Chelsea beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 previously and they did so via two counter-attacks. The first saw Werner break behind Atletico before squaring the ball to Ziyech. The second saw a pair of substitutes combine as Pulisic fed Emerson. The statistics say nobody has scored more goals from breakaways in the Champions League than Chelsea this season. If Tuchel’s side can use their counter-attacking nous to get in front, they are more than capable of protecting a lead.
N’GOLO KANTE and Jorginho versus a midfield of Luka Modric, Casemiro and Toni Kroos will be some sight. It’s often said Kante is like two players in one, and he may need to perform like that tonight to nullify the metronomic Modric and long-ball threat of Kroos. Liverpool endured one of the worst first halves of Jurgen Klopp’s tenure in their quarter-final first leg against Real, beaten time and again by Kroos’s balls over the top. Chelsea cannot and will not underestimate Real. They won’t collapse as easily. Who Tuchel starts as his wing backs will be key. Liverpool tried to use Sadio Mane to target the left-hand side in their second leg. Were it not for some slack finishing from Mohamed Salah, they might have made that clash more of a contest. I would use Ben Chilwell at left wing back, because of his speed. The more defensive-minded Cesar Azpilicueta started at right wing back against West Ham on Saturday. Was that as preparation for this contest? Chelsea are underdogs but they are more than capable of getting a good result tonight. I’m not expecting a seven-goal thriller, more of a 1-0 either way.