Real Madrid have released the team that will be starting against Chelsea hours before they had to, giving Thomas Tuchel a sneak peek at the side he will be facing this evening. The away side have been given a boost with a number of key players returning to the team for the Champions League quarter-final clash.
The Blues will be hoping to book their place in the final four for the second season running, where they happened to meet tonight’s opponents last time out. The rest is well known at this point, with Tuchel eventually guiding his team to European triumph in Porto and bringing a second Champions League back to Stamford Bridge.
With the Champions League one of only two trophies left on the table for the season, the knockout match is a key fixture before the end of the campaign. Chelsea will need to show a better performance than last time if they wish to progress though, with a 4-1 defeat to Brentford adding a bump in the road.
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When asked about whether the match against Real Madrid distracted his players on Saturday, Tuchel said: “I did not see the distraction there so why should we be distracted and think about Real Madrid when we are one goal ahead. Maybe it was the general feeling that now we are ahead and have it, and we got punished for that."
However, if he had any team news plans then he could change them in advance as Carlo Ancelotti has named his side hours before he had to. The official Real Madrid Twitter posted the starting XI at 5:32PM (BST).
Striker Karim Benzema makes his return from injury in a huge boost for the visitors. The Frenchman has been key to their title push this season and his absence was so tough that Ancelotti changed the whole system against Barcelona, but it failed miserably. Former Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois starts in goal, while Eden Hazard isn’t in the squad. Ex-Tottenham winger Gareth Bale starts on the bench.
Real Madrid starting XI: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Alaba, Mendy; Casemiro, Kroos, Valverde, Modric; Vinicius Jr, Benzema.
