Chelsea FC finally retired from the English football championship race with a 4-1 home defeat by Brentford FC. However, the hope of a successful title defense in the Champions League is alive, for coach Thomas Tuchel quarter-final opponents Real Madrid is something of a dream. The German has not lost a single one of his six duels with the “Weien Ballett”, two wins and four draws.
This series is scheduled to continue today (9 p.m., Sky, DAZN) at the stadium on Stamford Bridge. “It’s a big task that brings with it a lot of anticipation,” said Tuchel. Both teams met in the semifinals last season. Chelsea kept the upper hand with a total score of 3:1.
That’s not the only reason why Real reached out to the then Bayern star David Alaba. With the 29-year-old FB team captain, the defensive should get a lot more stability. The negative exception was the 0:4 home debacle against FC Barcelona. “We learned a lesson from that, we will be ready,” assured Real striker Karim Benzema, who has scored 24 goals in the league and eight in the “king class” this season.
The Spanish leaders will do everything they can to take advantage of the unrest at Chelsea. The London club is in trouble after the sanctions against (still) owner Roman Abramowitsch. Hundreds of employees are worried about their future, but there is said to be no shortage of interested parties.
FC Bayern cannot argue away the role of favorites before today’s first leg at Villarreal (9 p.m., ServusTV, Sky, DAZN). Nevertheless, a hot dance awaits the Munich crowd in the Estadio de la Ceramica, where the “Yellow Submarine” has often surpassed itself. “We will do everything we can to make history again,” said Spain striker Garard Moreno. “Obviously we know we were drawn to be one of the best teams in the world. But against Juventus everyone thought we were going down.” The opposite was the case. Villarreal celebrated a brilliant 3-0 away win.
Bayern’s trump ace is Robert Lewandowski. He leads the Champions League’s scoring list with twelve goals. (Alex)