Real Madrid vs Chelsea 1st Leg Preview & Prediction; Draw expected when the Blues visit Madrid - (2025)

Updated: 18/05/2025

UEFA Champions League semi-finals 1st leg preview: Real Madrid vs Chelsea – Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, Madrid – Tuesday, 27 April 2021 – 20:00hrs. BST

Real Madrid vs Chelsea Preview

Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea make a trip to Spain to play Real Madrid in a first-leg semi-final encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on Tuesday, April 27th.

The Blues managed to snatch a very important win against West Ham on Saturday to keep them in the hunt for a place in the Top 4 of the Premier League. Add to that is the recent semi-final win in the FA Cup over a dominant Manchester City. So, it will be a pumped-up Chelsea side that will take on the La Liga giants on Tuesday.

Recent Form

Real Madrid form: DWDDWW

Chelsea form: WDWLWW

Team News

For Madrid, long-term injury absentee Dani Carvajal featured in his first match since February against Real Betis and is likely to be given a start on Tuesday. Ferland Mendy, Toni Kroos and Sergio Ramos all sat out in the Real Betis game but only the first two are expected to start against Chelsea.

Lucas Vazquez and Federico Valverde miss the first leg owing to injury and illness, respectively. Eden Hazard who came off the bench in Saturday's La Liga draw could come in at some point of match against his former club.

Mateo Kovacic is out of the first leg for Chelsea due to a thigh injury. Apart from that, Tuchel has a fully fit side at his disposal. Olivier Giroud may find his way into the squad in place of Tammy Abraham who featured for just 9 minutes in the win over West Ham.

Given his spectacular performances particularly against Spanish opposition, Giroud could be introduced by Tuchel midway through the game depending on how the proceedings pan out.

Christian Pulisic will make way for Kai Havertz who was rested in the West Ham game with the ex-Bayer Leverkusen forward leading the charge alongside compatriot Timo Werner.

Either Callum Hudson-Odoi or Reece James will be expected to feature at a right wing-back role.

Probable line-ups

Real Madrid in a 4-3-3 formation: Courtois (goal); Nacho, Varane, Eder Militao, Mendy; Kroos, Casemiro, Modric; Asensio, Benzema, Vinícius Junior

Chelsea in a 4-3-3 formation: Mendy (goal); Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Rudiger; James, Jorginho, Kante, Chilwell; Mount, Havertz, Werner

Thirteen-time European champions Real are surprisingly yet to win from their three encounters with Chelsea having lost in two and drawn one. Given their tremendous form of late, one can't rule out the Blues coming away with an upper and from the Madrid game.

Bookmakers Odds

All odds taken from the leading bookmakers online and were correct as of 26/04/2021.

• Real Madrid to win: 13/10
• Draw: 23/10
• Chelsea to win: 21/10

Correct score Odds

• Draw 1-1: 11/2 (probable score line)
• Real Madrid 1-0: 6/1
• Draw 0-0: 15/2 (predicted score line)
• Chelsea 1-0: 15/2
• Real Madrid 2-1: 17/2
• Real Madrid 2-0: 10/1
• Chelsea 2-1: 10/1
• Chelsea 2-0: 14/1
• Draw 2-2: 14/1
• Real Madrid 3-1: 20/1
• Chelsea 3-1: 25/1
• Real Madrid 3-2: 33/1
• Chelsea 3-2: 33/1

Anytime goal scorer Odds

• Karim Benzema: 13/10
• Olivier Giroud: 7/4
• Timo Werner: 12/5
• Eden Hazard: 3/1 (SkySports)
• Kai Havertz: 3/1
• Christian Pulisic: 11/4
• Vinicius Junior: 4/1 (Skysports)
• Marco Asensio: 11/4
• Mason Mount: 15/4
• Hakim Ziyech: 15/4

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