Toni Kroos has backed Real Madrid to learn from their mistakes and defeat Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final. However, former Manchester City star Sergio Aguero says he cannot call which way the tie will go.
Both teams are heading into the rematch of last season's Champions League semi-final in very different form. Carlo Ancelotti is under massive pressure in the Spanish capital after the most recent El Clasico thrashing coupled with handling of certain players like Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic has led for certain calls to change the former Chelsea manager. On the contrary, since the sanctioning debacle started, the current World and European Champions have strung together six wins on the bounce in all competitions which has them as heavy favourites to progress from this Champions League quarter-final.
Despite this, Thomas Tuchel says the task ahead is a 'tough' one for his side who have seen Los Blancos' resilience after they overturned a first-leg deficit to knock out Mauricio Pochettino's Paris Saint-Germain side. "Tough one. The challenge cannot be much higher than playing the second leg in Bernabeu with spectators [as things stand]. It's a big challenge, but it's also a big excitement around this match, around this fixture. So we know what's coming and it will be an exciting match and a tough challenge," he revealed ahead of Middlesbrough.
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On top of this, the German believes having no fans at Stamford Bridge poses a problem. He said: "It would be a disadvantage. But listen, in general this game is for the spectators, the game changes so much with spectators. So hopefully we'll find solutions. I'm pretty sure everybody at the club and the board will fight for a chance.
"I don't know how big the possibility is, but the games are for the spectators and especially these games. It's a different game when the crowds are in the stadium. Hopefully we can make it happen somehow." One player who featured in the game last term in the form of Kroos didn't have a great game in both legs as he was dominated and overpowered by Jorginho, N'Golo Kante and Mason Mount.
He hopes his side can learn what what happened last time out in order to progress past the Blues to the semi-final of this season's competition. "We are recommended to look at ourselves. And if we are good, it is possible, we have seen it. That is why we have to see that we are very good because we have to be to reach the semi-finals," he told Spanish outlet Diario AS.
"If we correct our mistakes, we will eliminate Chelsea." Whilst not going as far as the Real Madrid midfielder did, retired footballer and Premier League legend Aguero believes it's anyone's game this season out of the final eight as to whom makes the grand showpiece at the end of the season in France.
"All of the Champions League quarter-finals will be very close matches. These are the eight best teams in Europe and anything can happen. You could have guessed from the start that these eight teams will have been the ones in the quarterfinals, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Benfica, Atletico Madrid and Villarreal," the Argentine told Stake.com.
"There are no easy matches in the Champions League and even less so in these knockout ties. All the teams are heavy-hitters and from now on, every game will be played with the importance of a final. Every team needs to focus through the whole 180 minutes and avoid any mistakes to make it through to the next round.
"There are plenty of examples to draw from, like when PSG played Real Madrid, PSG dominated for most of the time in both legs, but lost it in the last few minutes and were knocked out." All the teams are full of brilliant players that know how to turn things around in very short period of time and that makes a lot of the ties even matches, so it’s just too hard to call who is going to be able to progress.
