Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has backed his side to beat Real Madrid by a comfortable scoreline at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night ahead of the first of a two-legged Champions League clash between the sides. The Blues will be hopeful of coming away with some hope of progression in the competition after a dismal run of form.
The west London outfit have undergone plenty of changes in the past year since the new ownership arrived, including two managerial changes, with Frank Lampard now back in charge on an interim basis for the rest of the season. With a mid-table finish in the Premier League seeming certain, Europe remains the only beacon of hope for supporters before the conclusion of the campaign in May.
"We have to understand the strengths of the Real Madrid team, their qualities in possession and their individual talent," the former midfielder turned manager told the press before the clash. "We have to be very disciplined in our game off the ball, and understand the threats.
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"There are some very clear threats individually in their team. Ways Real Madrid like to score and regularly score and how they want to control the game. So we have to be defensively good against that. But we also have to show our own strengths in our game…
"We have to have belief, we have to follow the idea because in a high-level game the biggest thing can sometimes be the mentality – following through with what the idea is, under pressure. At this level, you have to be spot-on with our game to take it back to Stamford Bridge in front of our supporters."
Los Blancos are one of the favourites to win the competition still, having had a fantastic track record in the knockout stages. However, the Blues equally have some favour in the Champions League after previous managerial switches and the hierarchy will be hopeful that turning to Lampard will give them the boost required to lift the trophy a third time.
Boehly was seen ahead of the game with Sky Sports, who managed to get a score prediction from him that may shock some. He said: "Chelsea is going to win 3-0." The American businessman was then pushed further on the game, to which he had a clear message of: "I say have a lot of faith and we are going to win 3-0 tonight."
It remains to be seen if that is the case, which may seem unlikely in preview of the clash, but could become reality on another crazy night of European football.
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