Chelsea vs Real Madrid verdict, predicted score, key stats and suggested bets

Champions League quarter-final second leg, Tuesday, April 18, Kick-off 8pm, BT 1

Real Madrid earned a 2-0 win at Cadiz on Saturday and they have now won four of their last five.

Chelsea ended a four-game run without a goal in last weekend's defeat to Brighton.

Chelsea have gone six games in all competitions without a win.

Real Madrid have won their last four CL games.

Real Madrid won 3-1 in the CL at Stamford Bridge in April 2022.

Ben Chilwell is banned after his red card in the first leg so Marc Cucurella could replace him at left-back. Kalidou Koulibaly is out after getting injured at the Bernabeu and Armando Broja remains sidelined. Kai Havertz (knee), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (back) and Carney Chukwuemeka (knock) will all need assessing. Thiago Silva, N'Golo Kante, Reece James, Joao Felix and Mateo Kovacic will all return.

Vinicius Junior and Toni Kroos both missed out at the weekend for Real. Both are expected to return, but Ferland Mendy misses out. Marco Asensio is likely to be benched. Antonio Rudiger may start at centre-back in place of David Alaba while Eduardo Camavinga could be utilised at left-back.

Frank Lampard's return to Chelsea has not seen an upturn in results. Three straight defeats have plunged the Blues into a bigger hole and Todd Boehly is starting to feel the heat from the fans.

The 2-0 defeat at the Bernabeu in the first leg was the best performance under the returning Lampard, but they will have to improve on that to get anywhere near reaching the last four.

They face an unenviable task against Carlo Ancelotti's 14-time European champions. From their 19 Champions League knockout ties in which they have won the first leg by at least two clear goals, Real Madrid have progressed in all but just one. This means it's pretty futile looking at the 7/1 for Chelsea to progress.

"I don't like what I saw today," said Lampard after losing to Brighton in a game which could have ended in a much heavier defeat.

Lampard knows he has to draw a line under that quickly and "energise" the Stamford Bridge crowd, but the bottom line is that Chelsea just have not been scoring enough goals.

They have scored just seven goals at home in their last 10 games and they will need at least two to drag this tie into extra-time. Keeping it tight is the only way the Blues can progress. They are not potent enough to go toe-to-toe in a shootout, so nicking a goal and trying to build on that will be their only hope.

Lampard's men did cause Real one or two problems in the first leg and both Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix had chances for the visitors. Both will have to be in better form in front of goal if Chelsea are to put any kind of pressure on a Real team that have lost to Villarreal and Barcelona in recent weeks.

Despite this, Real just have the knack of getting the job done and Tuesday night will be no different in west London. Carlo Ancelotti is too cool a customer to have his side in a complacent mood.

Real know they do not have to push bodies forward and can wait to try and pick off a Chelsea team that will have to throw caution to the wind as the game goes on.

Chelsea managed just 42% possession against Brighton last time out and expect that to be even lower against the likes of Luka Modric and Kroos. It may mean that the hosts simply do not get enough possession to score the goals they need.

Goals look likely to be few and far between, but Chelsea can get on the scoresheet. Felix showed enough in the first leg to suggest he can be a danger to Real and he could be the man that Lampard hangs his hat on. However, Real have so much quality in attacking areas that Chelsea seem unlikely to shut them out; they have scored in their last eight games.

A low-scoring draw could be the correct approach, with Real looking all set for another final appearance in Istanbul.