Real Madrid vs Chelsea LIVE: Lineups and team news as N’Golo Kante starts in Champions League quarter-final

Chelsea’s caretaker boss, Frank Lampard, spoke to BT Sport ahead of kick off saying: “The balance of the team feels that we have to match the Real Madrid midfield, who have got three world-class players in there.

“I felt that we’re strong in that area of the pitch. Going with Raheem [Sterling] and João [Felix] up front, they have great counter-attacking abilities; they’ve got speed, can handle the ball and can get us up the pitch.”

Real Madrid and Chelsea had met in only three fixtures before 2020 – in two Uefa finals which were both won by Chelsea.

The second of those contests was the 1998 Uefa Super Cup in Monaco, when a Gustavo Poyet goal seven minutes from time at the Stade Louis II gave Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup holders Chelsea a 1-0 victory against Madrid, who had qualified by winning the Uefa Champions League.

The English club had also come out on top in the 1971 European Cup Winners’ Cup final against Madrid in Piraeus. The first game finished 1-1, Peter Osgood’s 56th-minute goal at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium cancelled out in the final minute by Ignacio Zoco.

Two days later in a replay at the same stadium, first-half goals from John Dempsey and Osgood again earned Chelsea their first European trophy despite Sebastián Fleitas pulling one back for Madrid 15 minutes from time.

Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea were 3-1 aggregate winners against Zinédine Zidane’s Real Madrid in the 2020/21 semi-finals.

Goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount secured a 2-0 second-leg victory at Stamford Bridge after the first leg in Spain had finished 1-1, Christian Pulisic’s 14th-minute opener for the visitors was cancelled out by Karim Benzema 15 minutes later.

The Champions League semi-final draw was done at the same time as the quarter-finals so the teams already know who they’ll face next if they make it that far.

The winner of Real Madrid vs Chelsea will face Manchester City or Bayern Munich but that will most likely be City after their 3-0 first leg win last night.

AC Milan or Napoli could face an all-Italian semi-final after Inter Milan’s 2-0 win at Benfica.

It is exactly a year since Chelsea visited the Bernabeu. It is 365 days since one of the great displays of doomed heroics in their history. Same place, another time. Real Madrid ultimately illustrated why they are Europe’s comeback kings but only after a stunning fightback from Chelsea. They went 3-0 up in the Bernabeu. Now the architect of it, Thomas Tuchel, is gone, along with two of the scorers, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner. The other one, Mason Mount, could be gone this summer.

But the differences extend beyond the names and faces. After three goals in the Bernabeu, Chelsea have now gone three games under three different managers without scoring. It is a strange sort of hat-trick, but one to sum up Chelsea’s season. The club who have spent more than anyone else in football had over two transfer windows now have 14 goals in their last 22 games. Karim Benzema has six goals in April to Chelsea’s none, 19 since 30 December to their 12. A reunion 12 months on may not feel a fair contest.

At least, after spending some £600m in a remarkable recruitment drive, Chelsea can call upon the services of a prolific scorer in the Spanish capital. Not Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose Clasico brace in Madrid last year is as irrelevant as his Premier League and Bundesliga Golden Boots and career total of 304 goals after being omitted from their European squad, but a scorer in a Champions League final. Admittedly, Frank Lampard is a 44-year-old caretaker manager now, rather than the most prolific midfielder of his generation. But after bringing in a host of players with a marked aversion to putting the ball in the net, Todd Boehly has finally hired someone who did so on a record 211 occasions for Chelsea.

The two sides met at the same stage of last season’s competition with Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid winning 5-4 on aggregate.

The Spanish side won the first leg 3-1 at Stamford Bridge with Karim Benzema scoring twice in the first half before Kai Havertz halved the Chelsea deficit five minutes before the break. Benzema then completed his hat-trick in the first minute of the second period.

Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea came back strongly at the Santiago Bernabéu thanks to goals from Mason Mount and Antonio Rudiger.

They levelled the tie before Timo Werner gave the Blues the aggregate lead with 15 minutes left to play. Rodrygo’s 80th-minute reply forced extra time, where Benzema netted a decisive strike in the 96th minute.

Real Madrid are looking to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the 11th time in 13 seasons, while Chelsea have appeared in the last four eight times but only once in the last eight campaigns.

Madrid have won six of their eight games in this season’s competition (with one draw and one defeat) while Chelsea have recorded five victories and two defeats – both losses coming away from home.

Real Madrid and Chelsea, the last two winners of the Champions League, meet in the knockout rounds for the third season running as their quarter-final kicks off at the Bernabéu.

Each side has enjoyed recent success against the other en route to taking the trophy; Madrid edged through a remarkable last-eight meeting last season on their way to claiming their 14th European Cup, while Chelsea’s 2020/21 triumph included a semi-final elimination of the Spanish side.

Lampard was reappointed Blues boss to the surprise of many last week and reports suggested Corden, who is friendly with Boehly, persuaded the American billionaire owner to bring back the club’s record goalscorer to the dugout.

Corden, a West Ham fan, has hosted American talk show The Late Late Show since 2015 and was seen at Stamford Bridge with Boehly last October.

Carlo Ancelotti makes six changes to the Real Madrid side that lost to Villarreal on Saturday. He brings back Dani Carvajal and Eder Militao into the defence whilst stacking the midfield with experience and talent. Federico Valverde, Edouardo Camavinga, Luka Modric and Toni Kroos all return.

There are three changes for Frank Lampard’s Chelsea. He sets the Blues up in a 3-5-2 formation and brings Thiago Silva into the back line in place of Marc Cucurella. N’Golo Kante starts in midfield alongside Mateo Kovacic and Enzo Fernandez whilst Ben Chilwell will provide momentum as the left wingback.