Eder Militao hints at what Chelsea must do to overcome Real Madrid Champions League deficit

 

Real Madrid defender Eder Militao has given his verdict on Chelsea along with explaining how the Champions League quarter-final tie against the Blues will be decided. Los Blancos lead by two goals heading into the second leg at Stamford Bridge and despite dominating the clash in Spain, Militao has insisted he and his teammates must be at the top of their game on Tuesday evening.

“I think Chelsea are a good team,” he said in a press conference. “It is very difficult to score against them. We have to work on that to do the same as we did last week, in the last game. We need to do more things to win overall. I think it’s going to be a very tough game because Chelsea is a very tough team.”

Despite ending with 10 players and having just seven shots on target, in comparison to Madrid’s 18 with eight saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga and two ending in the back of the net, Chelsea started brightly. However, that early hope was soon squashed as Karim Benzema gave Madrid the lead after 21 minutes.

Second half substitute Marcos Asensio then doubled the hosts’ lead 15 minutes after Ben Chilwell was sent off for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Up until that 15-minute period, Chelsea had done well to cope with Madrid’s dominance, but in a short amount of time the Blues had shot themselves in the foot twice. The dismissal of Chilwell was largely avoidable as Marc Cucurella’s decision to press into midfield left a massive gap which Rodrygo exploited. For the second goal, Chelsea were guilty of not reacting sharply to a short corner routine from the European champions.

Fine margins often define games of this importance and it’s fair to say in the second half mistakes cost Frank Lampard and his players. Ahead of the second leg meeting, Militao has made it clear exactly what Chelsea have to do if they wish to earn a spot in the semi-finals.

“Clearly we have an advantage here,” Militao said on being 2-0 in front. “We have to come here to win, not thinking about anything else. If we drop our level it is going to be complicated. “Chelsea had some great chances. Thibaut had good defence and saves. We have great players, we know we can’t miss tomorrow. Who makes the least mistakes will end up winning. We have to turn up with the same attitude as in the first leg and that is it.”