Real Madrid will welcome Chelsea to Santiago Bernabeu for the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie just a week later. But before that, a lot of things could change at Stamford Bridge. The biggest decision that the Blues have to make is regarding their manager after showing Graham Potter the exit door.
Things were clearly not working for Potter at Chelsea and letting him go was not a surprising decision. In fact, it perhaps should have come earlier. At the moment, Bruno Saltor is the interim head coach of the club.
It would be a major surprise though is Saltor is the man in charge for the first leg against Real Madrid. With a game of that magnitude around the corner, the Blues need to make a decision quickly. And it looks like they are set to bring a club legend back as caretaker manager.
As reported by Sky Sports, Chelsea are in advanced talks with Frank Lampard to return as caretaker manager until the end of the season.
Chelsea set to appoint surprise manager before facing Real Madrid
This news has come out of the Blue, pardon the pun. Chelsea were being linked with the likes of Luis Enrique and Julian Nagelsmann.
But perhaps they might not be too keen to come in at this stage of the season. And in that scenario, bringing in a club legend like Lampard until the end of the season might not be a bad idea at all.
Lampard has previously managed Chelsea and considering the circumstances, he did a great job getting them into the top four back then. His most recent role was at Everton. The Englishman’s record in the UEFA Champions League is not great though and that could be a major advantage to Real Madrid ahead of their quarter-final tie.