Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga has revealed what his team must do to beat Real Madrid.
The Blues trail 2-0 after the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final in Madrid.
Speaking at Stamford Bridge, according to a report on the club’s website, Kepa was quick to downplay the idea that the Chelsea team would need the performance of their lives to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Real Madrid.
However, in detailing what would be required to make the semi-finals, the goalkeeper made it clear the players knew an improvement was needed on what had gone before.
Better performance
“Obviously, we need a better performance than we had in the Bernabeu.
“We need to control better their counter-attacks, we need to spend better the time with the ball, we need to create more chances for sure,” Kepa said.
More goals
“We need to score goals and we need to be more clinical in both penalty areas. I think this is going to be key.
“It is not going to be easy but I don’t think we are going to need the performance of our lives. We need a good performance obviously, we need to play at our best, and we cannot over-think,” he said.
Step-by-step
“We have to go step by step, we have to defend well, we have to attack well and do a great game,” Kepa noted.
When questioned about whether there was a special plan to deal with Real’s winger Vinicius Junior, Kepa explained that concentrating too much on one player would not open up the prospect of other individuals, so the game plan needed to be more general.
“We need to push to keep them in their own half, that is something we can work on for tomorrow,” said the 28-year-old, who highlighted the second leg last season in the Spanish capital as a source of belief. That was when the Blues battled back from a 3-1 loss at the Bridge to be 10 minutes away from going through, before eventually going out 5-4 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid have published their squad list for Tuesday’s match against Chelsea as the club prepare for the return leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals, which will be played at Stamford Bridge.
The two titans are expected battle at 8pm today as Chelsea coach Frank Lampard also hopes to lead the blues to victory today.
As expected, both Vinicius and Kroos are back with the team and they should be available to feature in the starting lineup after missing Saturday’s away match in Cadiz.
Their presence in the XI should be crucial against a Chelsea team who will definitely try to play with a lot of intensity in the first few minutes in order to overcome their current 2-0 deficit. Vinicius will be a threat if Real Madrid are given the chance to play through counterattacks, Madrid noted.
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