Chelsea traveled to Spain to take on Real Madrid in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final round without their most expensive player Romelu Lukaku.
Lukaku missed Chelsea’s Premier League game against Southampton and the reigning UEFA Champions League winners beat Southampton 6-0 without him.
He missed the game because he is currently battling with Achilles injury and the injury will keep him out of the team that will face Real Madrid on Tuesday, April 12 at 20:00.
In the first leg of the tie, Chelsea’s coach, Thomas Tuchel decided to start Romelu Lukaku from the bench when the scoreline was 3-1 in favor of Real Madrid. Unfortunately, the 28-year-old Belgian striker could not do anything even though he had two good goalscoring opportunities.
The good news is that Chelsea’s captain, Cesar Azpilicueta who tested positive for covid-19 before the game against Southampton traveled with Chelsea to Madrid for the return leg.
Other players missing in Chelsea’s squad aside from Romelu Lukaku
Chelsea did not only travel to Madrid without Romelu Lukaku, the Premier League club traveled without some of the club’s regular players.
For instance, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell who have been battling knee injuries respectively remained sidelined ahead of the game.
Also, Chelsea midfielder, Ross Barkley will not be available for the Premier League side against Real Madrid on Tuesday. He is currently battling an undisclosed illness.
Romelu Lukaku’s stats at Chelsea this season
Romelu Lukaku who cost Chelsea around €113 million before the club could bring him from Inter Milan on August 12, 2021, has not been playing regularly for the club due to fitness issues and poor form.
So far in the 2021-2022 season, the Belgian footballer has played 36 times in all competitions in which he managed to score 12 goals and provided 2 assists. His contract with the club will expire on June 30, 2026.
Chelsea are allowed to dream according to Thomas Tuchel
Karim Benzema’s hat-trick against Chelsea in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League on April 6, 2022, gave Real Madrid a huge edge over the Premier League club.
Now, Chelsea have to beat Real Madrid 3-0 at the Bernabeu to stand a chance of qualifying for the semi-final stage of the competition.
Note that Chelsea ended Real Madrid’s journey in the semi-final stage of the competition last season and went on to win the title.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, the only time they have ever scored more than two goals away from home in the knock-out stage of the Champions League was in the 2008-2009 season against Liverpool.
Also, last season, Chelsea lost 3-1 to Napoli in the first leg of the last-16 away from home. When Napoli came to Stamford Bridge, Chelsea won 4-1 to qualify for the next stage of the competition 5-4 on aggregate.
Hence, they would wish to repeat the same history or even do better on Tuesday to overturn the two goals deficit and go on to qualify for the semi-final stage of the competition.
Ahead of the tie, the coach of Chelsea, Thomas Tuchel admitted that it would be difficult to overturn the result but is worth trying.
“It is one of the biggest challenges to perform away at the Bernabeu,” coach Thomas Tuchel said.
“It is even more difficult if you have to earn a certain result if you need to win with a minimum of two goals or better or maybe a three-goal difference. That makes it almost impossible and very, very difficult, but still, it is worth trying.
“We need nothing else than a fantastic script that we want to be able to overcome this…
“The task is incredibly high and the challenge is incredibly high given the circumstances of the first leg, where we play, against whom we play, and at what stage we play this kind of match.
“It is sometimes important to imagine things and to dream about them, but it will not shift the focus from the fact that we need to deliver and we need to be ready.
“We will arrive and try everything because it’s worth trying. From there we see and, hopefully, we have a match where belief grows within the match by our actions and, hopefully, we can fulfill our dream, and live up to our dream.
“But realistically, we have to invest a lot and be at our very top level.”
