3 reasons why Real Madrid will beat Chelsea at home on Tuesday

2. The midfield battle tilts Real’s way

Real’s holy trinity in midfield are expected to start the match with Toni Kroos making a much-anticipated return. He alongside Casemiro and Luka Modric would be key in midfield. Real will mostly look to play from the back. Karim Benzema aside, there isn’t much for Thibaut Courtois to try and launch long-balls.

He’d rather find the fullbacks and Modric, as he always does, will feature in that holding role to get past the first line of Blues’ pressure. This would bring the ball to the three midfield giants- Modric-Kroos-Casemiro. From here, as always, Toni Kroos will be key in the build-up phase.

With Benzema dropping deep on the left with Vinicius Jr, Kroos can find considerable outlets that can result in clear chances. This position would be particularly important as Cesar Azpilicueta is the shortest among the three men and will be playing on the left. Hence, the left-hand side of the Blues half would be the primary target for the German to launch over-the-top balls.

This was for the offense. For defense, we have particularly seen how threatening Real can be on the transition. Especially in important matches at home. As stated earlier, 1v1 situations can be predicted for most of Chelsea’s possession play with Real’s wingbacks dropping deep. In such situations, the midfield can stay heavily guarded with the three in midfield and with Benzema and Vini playing centrally to launch counters. Casemiro, one of the world’s best defensive midfielders, would be key in ball retrievals if at all the Blues choose to attack down the middle.

This would dismantle Chelsea’s best on-the-ball players, who would first be outnumbered and second, would be missing a vital name, former Madrid-man Mateo Kovacic. With all that being said, Real Madrid again are the clear winner in the midfield.