Champions League

THOMAS TUCHEL is hoping Carlo Ancelotti recovers from Covid in time to be in the dugout at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday. The Real Madrid boss faces missing the clash after testing positive for the virus six days ago.
Thomas Tuchel is hopeful former Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti will make it to Stamford BridgeCredit: EPA
Ancelotti won the Premier League and FA Cup Double with Chelsea in 2009-10Credit: Times Newspapers Ltd
Ancelotti missed the 2-1 win over Celta Vigo at the weekend, and could also be absent for the crunch Champions League quarter-final first leg.
Tuchel though has said it would be “nice” to have Ancelotti in the opposite dugout on Wednesday night, in a classy message to the Italian.
The Blues boss said: “I have the information that he will try to arrive tomorrow in the evening.
“I personally hope he makes it. He’s a big coach, a big personality and it would be nice to have him on the sideline for this kind of game.”
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Spanish outlet AS claim Ancelotti has missed four training sessions and his status for Wednesday’s game remains unknown.
The report states that Ancelotti feels fine, but he is just waiting on the results of a negative test before he can resume his duties as boss.
Ancelotti’s son Davide was in charge for Real’s game against Celta Vigo on Saturday in his absence.
But Davide couldn’t dish out orders due to not having the required licence, and was required to remain seated on the bench throughout the game.
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Although he was spotted communicating with Ancelotti Sr through a headset.
Real’s goalkeeper coach Luis Llopis then barked the instructions from the technical area to the players on the pitch.
If Ancelotti doesn’t recover in time, it will be up to son Davide and coaches Llopis and Abian Perdomo to take charge of Los Blancos against Chelsea. More

THIBAUT COURTOIS is steeling himself for a rough return to Stamford Bridge and hopes that Romelu Lukaku won’t be part of the welcoming committee.The Belgian keeper has never been forgiven by Chelsea fans for the way he forced a cut-price move to Real Madrid in 2018.
Real Madrid keeper Thibaut Courtois insisted he’s ‘happy’ to be returning to Stamford BridgeCredit: PA
Courtois won two Prem titles, a League Cup and FA Cup at Chelsea – but is extremely unpopular among Blues supporters for the way he left the clubCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
And while last season’s Champions League semi-final was played behind closed doors, this time he will feel the full force of the wrath of the team he left behind.
So it’s no surprise that Courtois is eager to play down any animosity, insisting: “I played here for four years and won two League titles and some cups.
“Chelsea was a big part of my career. They gave me the chance to grow and to learn from Petr Cech.
“Maybe my departure was less pleasant, but it is always difficult to leave any club and I am always happy to come back here.”
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Courtois will be even happier if his Belgian team-mate Lukaku is missing from Chelsea’s starting line-up after struggling to live up to his £97million price tag this season.
He said: “Romelu is a great striker so it’s strange not to see him playing much lately.
“He’s a guy with so much quality who finds the goal easily, but there are other great strikers at Chelsea and if the team is winning without him the manager keeps picking the same players.
“Everyone needs time to adapt to a new club with a new coach and new tactics. My first year at Madrid was also not easy.
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“I am sure that Romelu will come good. But I hope he can wait one more week before he does that.”
Courtois has also been following events surrounding the sanctioning of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich closely.
He said: ”It’s been a hard month for the club, the fans and the players. You can see all the people who love Chelsea are putting their energy together to keep the blue spirit.
“I just hope the new owners will understand the club they are buying.
“In terms of the players, Chelsea are more or less the same team we played last year but then were more dynamic and in a good flow.
“I think this year they are struggling a bit more and the good thing is that we know where we failed last time we played them so we believe we can have a better result this time and get to the semi-finals.” More

THOMAS TUCHEL will not make any drastic changes to his team to face Real Madrid despite the 4-1 defeat to Brentford. The Chelsea boss said he did not see the humiliating loss coming, even during the match, and he is concerned by that.
Thomas Tuchel could go with a similar team to the one that beat Real Madrid last season
Thomas Tuchel has ruled out any big changes despite the humiliating defeat to BrentfordCredit: PA
Kai Havertz is likely to start after impressing Tuchel on SaturdayCredit: Getty
But he is confident his squad knows what to do to respond – and that does not involve big changes or impassioned speeches.
Tuchel said to Chelsea’s media team: “A win is always the most helpful to prepare the next match, so now it’s a bit harder because we have to digest the big loss.
“We didn’t see it coming really, and also not within the match, which is maybe the problem. I didn’t see it coming and the players didn’t see it coming so I’m involved in it.
“So we will now find a way to digest it and prepare for Real Madrid, and Real Madrid will do what they want to do with it.
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“I don’t think that we will do crazy stuff now and give crazy speeches or whatever.
“We do what we need to do to prepare the next match as good as possible, it doesn’t matter if it’s [against] a big name or not such a big name, there are only tough matches out there for us in the last weeks of the season.
“Now we need to do our stuff better, on a higher level, more committed, more mature and we cannot lose concentration for a minute because you can get punished for that in the strongest league. It’s very untypical for us but it happened on Saturday.”
As a result, Tuchel will likely line up in a familiar formation with tried and tested personnel.
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Tuchel could revert to the 3-5-2 he has deployed in some big matches this season
The front five that orchestrated the win over Real Madrid last season – Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz – could all feature again.
Andreas Christensen could still be absent which means Cesar Azpilicueta will likely continue in central defence alongside Antonio Rudiger and Thiago Silva, despite conceding four to Brentford.
Tuchel could mix things up by playing three in midfield which could mean Werner drops out for Matteo Kovacic and Christian Pulisic providing the pace up-front instead of Mount.
Chelsea have operated in such a style in big games against Manchester City and Lille this season but whatever happens, Havertz is sure to start.
Tuchel was impressed with his performance against the Bees, saying: “I felt he was our strongest player. He worked like an animal and he was very dangerous. I’m very happy with his performance.” More