Chelsea need ‘special night’ at Stamford Bridge

Frank Lampard insisted “the door is open” for Chelsea to achieve the Champions League semifinals, however added they may need a “special night” at Stamford Bridge to discover a well past Real Madrid.

Madrid took management of their quarterfinal tie on Wednesday as targets from Karim Benzema and substitute Marco Asensio gave Carlo Ancelotti’s facet a 2-0 win over the Blues, who performed the ultimate half-hour with 10 males following Ben Chilwell’s pink card for hauling down Rodrygo.

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Chelsea had been lucky not be on the tip of a heavier defeat and Lampard believes the chance nonetheless exists to achieve the final 4 in Tuesday’s second leg in west London.

“I think it’s a big challenge, of course, against a team with the quality of Real Madrid,” Lampard mentioned. “But the door is open and it’s up to us whether we want to kick it open further next week or not.

“The result’s the fact. I’ve simply mentioned to the gamers ‘particular issues can occur at Stamford Bridge.’ They are an excellent staff however we’ve got to consider.”

The odds will be heavily stacked against a Chelsea side who have now gone four games without scoring a goal, and Lampard has one week to try and restore some confidence in attack.

Yet Chelsea created enough chances to suggest they can penetrate Madrid’s defence next week, with Joao Felix, Raheem Sterling and Mason Mount all having clear opportunities.

“There is quite a bit there for us, pretty much as good a staff as they’re,” Lampard said. “There’s a little bit little bit of an absence of perception. I believe the gamers have gotten to grasp how good they’re, what they will do. There had been alternatives to make use of the scale of the pitch extra, to be a bit extra aggressive — issues we will perhaps do subsequent week.

“There was some good in there, with the spirit. The result is a fact, but next week will be a big fight.”

Real supervisor Carlo Ancelotti, who gained the Premier League and FA Cup double as Chelsea boss in 2009-10, agreed that his facet nonetheless have loads of work to do.

“It’s not easy being on the bench for a match like this, but I’m very happy,” the Italian mentioned. “We have to stay calm and understand that although we have an advantage, anything can happen in football and we have to manage our lead well.”