Date: Wednesday 17th
March 2021
Venue: Stamford Bridge
Kick-off: 20:00 GMT
Tonight’s game sees us take on Atletico Madrid, in the second leg of our last-16 Champions League tie. The first leg in Romania a couple of week’s ago finished 0-1 to us, courtesy of a stunning goal from Giroud, which we managed to celebrate about five minutes after it hit the back of the net.
Despite expectations being raised with wins against Liverpool and
Everton, we come into tonight’s game off the back of a frustrating game against
Leeds in the Premier League at the weekend, where we failed to find the net but
had a fifth consecutive clean sheet to celebrate. Thanks to results going
largely our way, we have remained 4th in the table, albeit hanging
on a bit right now.
Tonight’s opponents remain top of La Liga but also come into tonight’s
game with a 0-0 behind them at the weekend, against Getafe. Atletico have
failed to progress past the quarter-final stage four seasons in a row but
did put Liverpool out at
this stage of the competition last season. Chelsea, of course, won the Champions
League in 2011-12, but have not progressed past the last-16 stage since
2013-14.
With our 1-0 advantage from the away
leg, Atletico will have to open up and attack a bit tonight, so that could go
one of two ways: they’ll either do what others have struggled to do lately, and
breach our defence, or leave themselves open trying. They do welcome back Trippier, Carrasco and Gimenez though, so they won’t be the
same side we played in Romania, whilst for us, Mason Mount is likely to be a
big miss.
Tough one
tonight.
MANAGER’S VIEWS
Going into today’s game, Thomas Tuchel, says
“Atletico is one of the
teams to give away the fewest chances in the whole of Europe so it’s very
important to be patient and keep this level going. We have a big respect for
them because we are playing against the leaders in Spain and we did an
outstanding job in Bucharest. We need to be focused, play a high-intensity
match and play with hunger, aggression and a high level. With Simeone, they are one of the toughest teams
to beat, this is their characteristic – discipline, hard-working and organised
defence. They have incredible quality to attack and to play a possession
game, they are a complete squad.”
Atletico Madrid manager, Diego Simeone,
meanwhile, says “Joao Felix, as we have
always mentioned, is a really important player. He is going to play from the
beginning. Joao has had a really high-quality start to the season. He is the
talk of our team and we need this player. All footballers have different stages
throughout their professional career, especially when they are young, where
they dip. But as you heard from him there is nothing more needed from his
personality. Ahead of the Champions League and La Liga matches, we have to
ensure that as a 21-year-old that he has that will that he needs to have to
reach the point where he needs to be.
Chelsea don’t have a weakness. The
only thing is they don’t know what can happen from a negative point of view –
they have not had a negative result yet. We don’t know how they will approach
it, but I know what we want, which is to win.”
SQUAD NEWS
For Chelsea, Thiago Silva (thigh) and Tammy Abraham (ankle) are both out, whilst Mason
Mount and Jorginho are suspended.
For Atletico Madrid,
Kieran Trippier, Yannick Carrasco and Jose Gimenez are all
back after missing the first leg and Joao Felix will
start.
TEAMS
CHELSEA (Possible
line-up): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger;
Hudson-Odoi, Kante, Kovacic, Alonso; Ziyech, Werner; Giroud
ATLETICO MADRID
(Possible line-up): Oblak; Trippier, Gimenez, Savic, Lodi; Koke;
Felix, Llorente, Saul, Correa; Suarez
LAST MEETING
Atletico Madrid 0-1
Chelsea (23rd February 2021)
CURRENT FORM (CL)
CHELSEA: WWWWDW
ATLETICO MADRID: WDDDWL
OTHER STUFF
- Atletico Madrid
have lost three Champions League matches against Chelsea
- Atletico Madrid
have won just two of their past 10 away Champions League knockout matches
(drawn two, lost six).
- Chelsea have never
been eliminated in a European two-legged knockout tie after winning the first
leg away from home
- Atletico Madrid
have a 50% progression rate in the European Cup/Champions League after losing
the first leg of knockout ties.
PREDICTION
Sportsmole: Chelsea 1-1 Atletico Madrid
