Real Madrid: Three keys to victory against Chelsea

Real Madrid must attack quickly

There is good and bad to Real Madrid allowing one away goal to Chelsea in a 1-1 draw. The bad is that a 0-0 draw would send them out of the competition. So the Blues can defend a lead in their own house. But the good is that if there are goals in the second leg, Real have an advantage. Any draw above 1-1 would send them through to the final.

So Los Blancos are going to have to force the issue, down an away goal. They need to score. And they have not scored multiple goals against a strong side on the road since their win over Inter Milan in the Champions League group stages.

Attacking too much has left Real vulnerable, including this competition. Madridistas will not forget either disaster against Shakhtar Donetsk.

Real must find a way to quickly attack. They were so good at this against Liverpool. Real will not be able to control the pitch as they did against Atalanta in that decisive 3-1, second leg win. But they can quickly create chances with smart passing, as they did through Toni Kroos and Karim Benzema in their 3-1 first leg win over Liverpool. But note, of course, that both of these 3-1 wins came at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.

Los Blancos are up against it. Having to score multiple times on the road against an elite defensive side, which is a description Chelsea have earned under Tuchel, is no easy task. And with the likes of Timo Werner and Mason Mount on the other side of the pitch, hoarding the ball with no real end product is a sure-fire way to lose the tie on the counter.