HOW CHELSEA SEALED MADRID DATE

Chelsea will face Real Madrid over the two legs in the Champions League semi-finals over the next one week to determine who goes through to the final next month. The first leg is in Madrid on Tuesday night before the return leg is played at Stamford Bridge next week Wednesday.

The Blues have come a long way in this season’s competition and that could be attributed to German tactician Thomas Tuchel though one would never know if the club would be in the same situation had Frank Lampard stayed on as manager. Club legend Lampard was sacked and Tuchel was appointed in his place.

Tuchel led French giants Paris Saint Germain (PSG) to the Champions League final last season before losing out to outgoing champions Bayern Munich and he could make it two successive finals if the Blues managed to overcome Real Madrid in their semi-final tie. The winner will face the winner of the mammoth tie between PSG and Premier League table toppers Manchester City.

Lampard was the Chelsea manager when they saw off the likes of Sevilla, Rennes and Krasnodar to emerge as group winners. They were drawn against Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 and they were seen as underdogs until Tuchel weaved his magic to mastermind a 3-0 aggregate win over the Spanish La Liga leaders.

FC Porto were the next opponents for Chelsea and after a poor half hour in their first leg clash in Portugal, Mason Mount gave the Blues the lead to become the youngest Chelsea goalscorer in the Champions League knockout stage. Left-back Ben Chilwell then added a crucial second goal to put the Blues in a fantastic position.

The goal from Chilwell brought back memories of the 2012 Champions League semi-final second leg clash with Barcelona for Chelsea fans as Fernando Torres raced through, kept his composure to also score a second goal for the Blues. Fernando Torres came off the bench to make it 2-2 and kill off the fight from hosts Barelona who needed to score to go through while the scoreline was still 2-1. Chelsea won the first leg 1-0 at home.

The goal from Fernando Torres ensured that Chelsea met Bayern Munich in the final and they went on to win the competition for the first time in history. Fernando Torres didn’t have the best of times at Stamford Bridge but he would be remembered for that breakaway goal.

Chelsea won the first leg over Porto 2-0 and a 1-0 defeat at home in the second half didn’t do much to stop Chelsea from booking a semi-final date with 13-time European champions Real Madrid.