With hopes of a Premier League title slim to nothing for Chelsea this season, there are two contests that Thomas Tuchel can hope his side can win silver. Championship side Middlesbrough, while also advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Lille.
The draw for the European title then chose Thomas Tuchel’s men to fight Carlo Ancelotti’s Real Madrid in a rematch of last season’s semi-final, which went the way of Chelsea. The German coach then won the Champions League in an impressive end to the season for the Blues.
But Los Blancos may face a different threat this time around, with Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema taking shape this season. Speaking before the match against Middlesbrough, Tuchel discussed the connection with the Madrid side and said: “Difficult. The challenge can not be much higher than playing the second stage in the Bernabeu with spectators. It is a big challenge but it There’s a bit of excitement surrounding this match and the match. We know what’s coming. It’s going to be an exciting match and a difficult challenge.
“It’s nice to play for a European team and maybe not on this kind of stage a team that you’ve played so many times in national competitions.”
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The match will also see the two teams reunite since Eden Hazard made the move to the Spanish capital, although he was not close to the form he found at Stamford Bridge. Due to the tough challenge against Chelsea, they may need to be in top form to defend their Champions League title.
Football Predictors FiveThirtyEight have a look at the probabilities for each team after the draw of the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The Blues currently have the fourth-best chance of the remaining eight to win the competition.
They are said to have a 53% chance of reaching the semi-finals, beating Real Madrid if they do so. If they manage to get past them, the Blues will have to face either Manchester City or Atletico Madrid, in what could be a repeat of last season’s final.
Chelsea get a 22% chance to reach the final, while winning the final is a 9% chance as they would face Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Villarreal or Benfica. It represents a potentially slim chance of retaining the title, but the team will surely take one game at a time.
Manchester City gives the best chance of all sides to win the final with 29%, while Liverpool second with 26%. Bayern Munich is third with 25% ahead of the Blues. Real Madrid is fifth with 7%, Villarreal and Atletico Madrid are at 2%.
Benfica are the lowest with less than 1% chance of winning it. It means it is a task for Chelsea to win, even though they had little chance of winning it last season.
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