Team news, stats, kick-off time ahead of the Champions League semi-final second leg between Chelsea and Real Madrid on Wednesday.
Team news
Mateo Kovacic remains sidelined for Chelsea, having picked up an injury ahead of the quarter-final win over Porto, but the rest of the squad will be fit.
Antonio Rudiger is available after missing out on Saturday's 2-0 win at Fulham with a facial injury and is set to wear a protective mask if he plays.
Chelsea drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in the first leg last week, with Christian Pulisic nabbing a vital away goal for the Blues.
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The Daily Mirror's Darren Lewis believes Chelsea are capable of getting past Real Madrid and securing their place in the Champions League final
Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde has recovered from Covid and after testing negative, has travelled to London with the rest of the squad.
However, Zinedine Zidane will be without Raphael Varane, who picked up an abductor injury at the weekend. Dani Carvajal is sidelined with a hamstring injury he suffered during the first leg last week.
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Real Madrid defender Marcelo is free to fly with the squad to London for their Champions League semi-final second leg against Chelsea after completing his democratic duties in Madrid, says Spanish football expert Alvaro Montero
However, Real could replace Varane with captain Sergio Ramos after he returned to training at the end of last week. The 35-year-old defender has not featured since playing for Spain at the end of March.
Marcelo will also be able to join his team-mates, despite being chosen to work at a Madrid polling station as part of local elections. Reports in Spain on Tuesday morning said the Brazilian turned up around 8am at the Liceo Europeo in La Moraleja to fulfil his duties as an assistant but was excused and allowed to return home after being substituted by one of the main electoral council members.
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- Chelsea will face Real Madrid for the fifth time in European competition, while they are unbeaten against them in the previous four (W2 D2). This will be the first time across the five meetings that Chelsea have hosted the Spanish side.
- Real Madrid are winless in their last four away games against English sides in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L2), scoring only two goals across the four games. Their last such victory was against Liverpool back in October 2014, winning 3-0 in the group stage.
- Chelsea have progressed from five of their last seven knockout ties in the UEFA Champions League when avoiding defeat away from home in the first leg. However, one of these two eliminations came in their last semi-final appearance in the competition, versus Atlético de Madrid in 2013-14 (0-0 in first leg, 1-3 in second leg).
- Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane is looking to secure his fourth progression in four UEFA Champions League semi-final ties, which would equal the record for most semi-final tie progressions by a manager in competition history (4 - along with Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi).
- Chelsea are aiming to reach their third UEFA Champions League final, which would take them just one behind Manchester United and Liverpool (both four) for most final appearances in the competition by an English team.
- Real Madrid could seal their place in a 17th European Cup/UEFA Champions League final, with their current total of 16 already being the most of any team. Progression here would set up Zinedine Zidane's fourth UEFA Champions League final in charge of Real Madrid, as many as the club had managed in the competition before he took charge (four).
- Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has only lost four of his 18 home games as a manager in the UEFA Champions League (W12 D2), with his sides scoring 48 goals across these fixtures - an average of 2.7 per game.
- Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has scored 71 goals in the UEFA Champions League and could become the outright fourth top scorer in the competition's history if he scores in this game, overtaking Raúl (71).
- Chelsea's Mason Mount (22y 115d) could become the second-youngest English player to score in a UEFA Champions League semi-final, after Wayne Rooney in 2007 (21y 182d v Milan). The last English player to score for Chelsea in a semi-final in this competition was Frank Lampard in 2008, netting versus Liverpool at Stamford Bridge.
