Real boss Zinedine Zidane said: “He’s fine. He was very comfortable when he played the other day and that was the most important thing – he didn’t feel any pain. He’s ready to go now. We’re happy he’s available because he’s going to bring a lot to the team.” Both managers say their teams deserve to be in the last four of the Champions League despite signing up to a European Super League that threatened big Uefa sanctions. Chelsea have since pulled out of the competition.
With the farcical fallout of the doomed European Super League still playing on their minds, Real Madrid and Chelsea gear up for the first leg of their Champions League semi-final showdown at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium on Tuesday night. Los Blancos booked their spot in the final four courtesy of a 3-1 aggregate victory over Liverpool in the quarter-finals, while Chelsea survived a late scare against Porto to beat the Primeira Liga giants 2-1 over two legs. The hosts go into this game on the back of a disappointing goalless stalemate with Real Betis in La Liga, whereas Chelsea boosted their top-four prospects with a 1-0 win at West Ham United.
Since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel, Chelsea has been amazing in defence. Under his wing, Chelsea has conceded only one goal in the previous four Champions League games, and he has similar results in England. Meanwhile, Real Madrid has drawn in three of their last five games across all competitions, so our prediction is for this trend to continue on Tuesday. We expect the final score to be a draw, and we don’t expect to see many goals in this game, so it’s only logical to suggest betting on a draw at half time as well. It’s the Champions League semi-finals and teams will certainly go into the match with maximum caution and focus on the defensive side. Unless we see an early goal, we can see this match ending 0-0 at half time.
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