Carlo Ancelotti has already told Chelsea of an advantage that Real Madrid have for the Champions League quarter-final next month. The reigning Champions League holders will be coming to Stamford Bridge for the third season in a row with the winners of the tie having gone on to win the competition on both previous occasions.
The Italian manager himself is also returning to familiar ground having been a massive success at Stamford Bridge between 2009 and 2011, completing the league and cup double in his first season. Ancelotti was a fan favourite at SW6 and has since gone on to win two more European titles since being sacked by Roman Abramovich.
As the most experienced of the eight quarter-final bosses, Ancelotti is going up against one of the most junior ones in Graham Potter. The Blues boss will manage his first ever game at this stage of the competition when his side travel to Santiago Bernabeu on April 12.
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It means that Chelsea will be at home for the second leg, often associated with an advantage even without away goals impacting the state of play. Ancelotti has previous when it comes to special European nights though and the second leg of last season's win against Chelsea was one of those.
"We struggled after going 2-0 down, I think the team went down a bit psychologically,” he said on a night that Madrid lost 3-2, winning 5-4 on aggregate. “How can I explain it? The magic of this stadium helps the players to never surrender, and we never surrender."
As opposed to the 2021 tie, which was played at Los Blancos' training stadium, the Bernabeau is now close to the fortress it has been for much of the past decade. Stamford Bridge itself has prestige when it comes to European nights and Potter praised the support for the 2-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund earlier in the month, saying, "It's an important game, it's a special atmosphere. It's a passionate evening. Both sets of supporters contributed to that.
"Stamford Bridge was rocking and our performance helped that. We pressed high, we tackled, we tried to attack them. Like I said, all of this against a top team."
If Chelsea are to progress to the semi-finals for the second time in four years then they will need to harness that. It won't be completely in favour of Madrid though with Ancelotti saying last season that no game was tougher. “Most difficult game in the Champions League this season? The game against Chelsea at Bernabeu," he revealed. “It’s been very complicated mentally because we had won in London.”
“In all three rounds, I never thought we were out. The mental aspect was huge against Chelsea." This season there is an expectation that they will get past Potter's Blues but the magic of the Champions League makes it far from a certainty.
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