Chelsea have a near fully-fit squad as they travel to face Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Interim boss Frank Lampard boasts a broader range of options compared to his first game back in charge of the Blues, a limp 1-0 defeat away to Wolves on Saturday. Defensive rock Thiago Silva, midfield marvel N'Golo Kante and Mason Mount, a favourite of Lampard's, have all made the trip to the Spanish capital in the hope of helping Chelsea overcome the odds.
Club captain Cesar Azpilicueta also returns in a 24-man travelling party, although he isn't expected to feature following a knee injury and concussion in mid-February. The Blues are hanging their hopes on the Champions League to salvage what's been a season to forget so far - and their big players must produce.
Kante is arguably the most prominent of the returning players, having played just 69 minutes since he recently came back from a seven-month injury layoff and Lampard opting to rest him for the loss at Molineux. The Chelsea manager, installed until May, hopes that the French midfielder can repeat his heroics from nearly four years ago when he was first in the dugout.
"I think N'Golo's a special player," Lampard affirmed ahead of the match. "I know the difficulties N'Golo's had recently with injuries but in terms of coming back at a really high level, I witnessed him do that. "He did in the Super Cup against Liverpool a few years ago.
"He passed a fitness test, hadn't played for a long time and he was the best player on the pitch for 120 minutes. He has the capacity to do that because he's a special player. When we miss him as a club we miss him because of how good he is so it’s a positive that he's back for sure."
As for Silva and Mount, they're in contention to start, too. Brazilian centre-back Silva has been out for six weeks with a knee injury, meaning that he's only trained twice in the lead-up to this game, while England international Mount still has a niggling pelvic injury.
Ben Chilwell is set to be recalled at left-back over Marc Cucurella, who continued his first-season struggles with the Blues against Wolves. Conor Gallagher is expected to miss out in place of Kante, having also been shown a yellow card and subsequently taken off during a miserable afternoon in the Midlands.
For the hosts, former Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti is hoping that his decision to rest a number of key players on Saturday will be vindicated. Real Madrid lost at home for the first time this term in LaLiga, with Villarreal coming from behind to win 2-1 and allow Barcelona to extend their lead at the top of the table to 13 points.
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Karim Benzema - who scored four against Chelsea in last season's quarter-finals - was subbed before the hour mark, while team-mates Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde all started on the bench. Ancelotti's biggest headache comes at left-back, with Nacho Fernandez, David Alaba and Camavinga all vying for the nod.
Camavinga impressed in the role during their recent 4-0 win away to arch rivals Barcelona, while Nacho's displays against Liverpool in the round of 16 were both commendable. Alaba, meanwhile, has the most Champions League experience and joined his boss for the pre-match press conference, often a telling indication.
Predicted Real Madrid XI (4-3-3): Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
Predicted Chelsea XI (4-3-3): Kepa; James, Fofana, Koulibaly, Chilwell; Kante, Fernandez, Kovacic; Felix, Havertz, Sterling
