The calmest man in the stadium ...............
Apr 27, 2021
UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid- Chelsea
I previewed both of Chelsea's quarter finals with Porto and opposed the Blues in both , writing ahead of the second leg .............
These two meet again in Seville with Chelsea holding a 2-0 lead from last week's first leg, ahead of which my notes included .....
Chelsea have been fantastic under Thomas Tuchel, almost flawless defensively, but we do not know how they are going to react to not only that run ending, but incredibly conceding five goals at home to Championship bound West Bromwich Albion at the weekend. It is true all five were scored after the dismissal of Thiago Silva, but it was still an awful result and capitulation. We should perhaps expect a positive reaction, but do not know if any mental scars remain and this fixture is also an odd one with both legs of this tie being played in Seville, the second in just six days time.
Porto are second domestically and well adrift of leaders Sporting and you might make a case for them being weaker than in previous years, but I saw no sign of that in the two R16 games with Juventus where they scored four goals (they are top scorers in Portugal by some way) and showed unbelievable fortitude and mental strength to come through the second leg in Turin, despite playing 70 minutes a man short. It was incredibly impressive and they pressed Juve hard across all 210 + minutes, even with 10 men.
No signs of those "scars" from Chelsea, but personally, I felt the scoreline was incredibly flattering to them. Porto had 61% of the ball , hit the woodwork and had 3 of the 5 big chances in the game, some of their build up play was really inventive and to be honest, I was very taken with them and all this without arguably their two best players in Mehdi Taremi and Sergio Oliveira, who return from bans this evening. Both were given 20 or minutes or so from the bench in the weekend league game which Porto won 2-0 with Taremi scoring and the duo will be at peak fitness/freshness. They have 22 goals and 16 assists between them in the league and six Champions League goals and whilst they will not be a surprise package for Chelsea, it will be something very different for Tuchel and his coaching staff to prepare for and they already saw enough in the first leg, including issues in dealing with the speed and overloads of Porto’s attacks to realise there is still plenty of work to do. Porto also won xG 1.53-1.26 and might have taken something from the game and definitely should have scored.
Porto head coach Sergio Conceicao said: "We are confident. We know that we face a difficult task, but we are here to give the answer that we have to give."
Porto scored the only goal of that game very late, which suited us, but was not enough to see them progress. It was a disappointing game with both teams playing cautiously, I cannot blame Chelsea for that as they did the damage in the first leg, but I expected a more adventurous approach from the Portugese side having seen that they could test the London side in the first meeting. I doubt that Real will be as timid. This will be their 30th Champions League home leg semi final, they have a 19-7-3 record, have failed to score in just three , which were the three defeats, there have been no scoreless draws. After early 20-21 looking like a season that Real would like to erase from the record books, they have closed a 10 digit lead for Atletico to just two points at the top of La Liga, overcome a Copa del Rey exit to Alcoyano and thrived in this competition after they looked to be heading out at the group stage . It has been a remarkable turnaround and Zinedine Zidane who always looks the calmest man in the stadium has got the belief back and is looking to win his 4th Champions League title in six seasons with Real and, he was not at the club for one of those non winning years, so basically for the 4th time in five attempts, this is a man and club who know how to get the job done.
I am not as convinced by the Blues as everyone else appears to be, Porto caused them plenty of problems in the first leg, so did WBA at Stamford Bridge (see above) and Brighton last midweek. Chelsea kept clean sheets in two of those, which has been the order of the day under Thomas Tuchel, conceded five in the other, the German head coach has got them very well organised and disciplined, but I also feel they have rode their luck at times and that they will be fully tested as a defensive unit this evening. Real looked to put their QF with Liverpool to bed in the first leg, won 3-1 and were 7-1 for on target attempts , 13-4 ITB and 4-1 for BC's, they outclassed the English champions despite being without their first-choice centre-back pairing, the talismanic Sergio Ramos and Rafael Varane (who had recently tested positive for Covid) and right back Dani Carvajal . That was the 16th time in 17 occasions that Real had progressed from a Champions League knockout stage game after winning the first leg and they will surely be looking for a lead to bring with them to London next week.
Varane is back now, Carvajal started his first match since February last weekend and Ramos could have made the squad but is being given an extra few days and will be saved for the second leg. Home win.
2 units Real Madrid -0.5 ball 2.41 asian line.
Good luck !
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