For a second season in a row, Real Madrid and Chelsea go head to head in the Champions League quarterfinals with the Blues seeking revenge for last year’s defeat.
The two combined for nine goals across two games a season ago. Will we see a similar goal-fest Wednesday? Bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 1.91 for over 2.5 goals and at 3.25 for over 3.5 goals.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: April 11th, 11:00 A.M. (EST)
Chelsea came extremely close to making it back into the Champions League semifinals last year, holding a 4-3 advantage in the tie against Real with just 10 minutes left to play in the return leg, but Carlo Ancelotti’s men still found a way to win. Of course, Real then went on to win the tournament once again.
Karim Benzema crushed Chelsea last season with four goals and now enters Wednesday’s battle in red-hot form. Villarreal found a way to neutralize the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner on Saturday, but Benzema had scored back-to-back hat tricks before the contest. Last week in the Spanish Cup, he became just the second Real player ever to score three goals in a match against Barcelona at Camp Nou.
The veteran star has also sparked into life in the Champions League again. After failing to score in four group-stage outings, Benzema produced three goals and an assist in the round of 16 as Real picked apart Liverpool 6-2. Dating back to last season, Benzema has now scored an incredible 13 goals in nine knockout stage games in the Champions League.
What’s even more frightening for Chelsea on Wednesday – Benzema has scored 10 straight Champions League goals against English sides. Can Frank Lampard find a way to keep him quiet? And can he finally get his team scoring again?
Saturday’s 1-0 defeat to Wolverhampton marked Chelsea’s third straight outing without a goal and the team now has more games played (30) than goals scored (29) this season in the Premier League. Considering how Benzema is playing and all the quality Real has, Chelsea likely won’t be able to escape from Madrid with a decent result if they can’t get any goals Wednesday.
The two have previously clashed in Europe seven times and surprisingly Chelsea has the upper hand in the head-to-head meetings, having won four of the matches. Chelsea has never lost in Madrid, winning 3-2 last season and 2-1 back in 1971 in the UEFA Cup, while drawing 1-1 in a 2021 meeting.
