The UEFA Champions League returns this week with mouth-watering semi-final first-leg encounters.
Chelsea will face Spanish giants Real Madrid, while French juggernauts PSG will lock horns with Manchester City.
It will be Chelsea’s first semi-final since 2012 when they won their first Champions League trophy after a dramatic penalty shootout victory against Bayern Munich.
The Blues will hope to rewrite history when they go head-to-head with Real Madrid at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium on Tuesday.
The last time Chelsea and Real Madrid met competitively was in 1998. The Blues won 1-0 courtesy of Gus Poyet’s late strike in the UEFA Super Cup.
Real Madrid knocked out Liverpool in the quarter-finals, while FC Porto exited at the hands of the Blues on road to the last four.
While it promises to be an electrifying encounter, The Heritage Times looks at three things to note before the much-anticipated semi-final clash…
Hazard-Chelsea reunion
The former Blues star has endured a tough time at Real Madrid following his move to the La Liga giants in the summer of 2019, with persistent injuries preventing him from showing his best form.
But the worst could finally be behind him and that might just be bad news for Thomas Tuchel’s side ahead of two massive games against the Spanish outfit.
Hazard made a 15-minute cameo appearance as Los Blancos were held to a goalless draw by Real Betis – just days before facing Chelsea in the first-leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The Belgian star will relish an opportunity to reunite with former Blues teammates on Tuesday.
Benzema vs Giroud: The F1 rivalry
Karim Benzema and Oliver Giroud could finally settle a decade long feud on the pitch when their respective teams square off against each other in Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first-leg encounter.
Both players have been at loggerheads ever since striker Benzema referred to Giroud – who led the line for France’s World Cup winning team in 2018 – as a go kart and himself as a Formula One car when asked to compare the pair.
France’s preferred No 9. Giroud has scored six Champions League goals this season, while Benzema boasts of five so far this campaign.
However, it is left to see who comes out on top between the pair after tonight’s clash.
Tuchel’s 100 per cent unbeaten record vs Zidane
Zinedine Zidane has a lot to prove against Thomas Tuchel when the lead their teams to battle tonight.
The German remains the only coach Zidane has faced at least three times and not beaten, with Tuchel going unbeaten in their last four meetings.
Tuchel has beaten the French man once in those meetings, while the other three have ended all square.
The pair first met in the group stage of the 2016/17 Champions League, the year Real Madrid won the double. Los Blancos hardly dropped points that season, but they did draw twice against Tuchel’s Borussia Dortmund.
