Chelsea vs Real Madrid LIVE stream: Lineups and team news ahead of Champions League quarter-final tonight as Conor Gallagher starts

This evening’s match marks Toni Kroos’ 150th game in all European competitions.

During that time he has won the Champions League with two separate clubs – four times at Real Madrid and once at Bayern Munich.

Perhaps most famously Kroos was a part of the Real Madrid side that lifted the trophy in three consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

It may be a parable of Todd Boehly’s Chelsea, a club where it is possible to have both too many players and too few, where footballers are bought but they can’t be used, where strategy was eschewed in favour of scattergun spending.

When Real Madrid visit Stamford Bridge, there would be strong grounds for Frank Lampard to select Benoit Badiashile, except for one minor issue: he is ineligible. The Frenchman is one of the few signings to make a promising start to a Chelsea career this season, but he is unavailable. As Kalidou Koulibaly is injured, as Ben Chilwell is suspended, as Levi Colwill is out on loan along with Malang Sarr, Chelsea’s sextet of left-sided defenders is reduced to one: Marc Cucurella, a disastrous signing and, indeed, a reason why their contingent is so depleted.

The Spaniard came on when Koulibaly limped off in the Bernabeu last week: he was caught out of position when Chilwell, in an attempt to compensate, was sent off. And so Lampard may have to pick a back four for the rematch. He might have done anyway – it is a way to incorporate an extra attacker for a team who need to score goals – but the tactics could be dictated by a Chelsea-esque sense of chaos.

”We are fine, motivated, as always.” said Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti,

“These are important matches in an important competition. We are thinking that we have to play a full game. We have 90 minutes left and in this type of competition anything can happen.

“We are ready to play the best we can.”

Chelsea are without a win in their last six matches across all competitions but their most recent Uefa Champions League record is much better.

They have won nine of their last 11 matches in the competitions at Stamford Bridge (D1 L1), including each of their last three home fixtures.

Real Madrid, like Chelsea, have won nine of their last 11 Uefa Champions League matches (D1 L1). They have, however, also come out on top in each of their last 10 quarter-final ties in the competition.

Chelsea are looking to improve their recent record against Spanish teams at Stamford Bridge.

They’ve only won two of their last eight Uefa Champions League fixtures with La Liga sides in west London (D3 L3) and were beaten 3-1 there by Real last season, with Karim Benzema scoring a hat-trick.

Whether or not that makes it an advisable strategy is up for debate, but one way or another – by carrot, stick or cliche – a message would undoubtedly have been delivered that rather better is required.

Indeed, there are only two potential reasons for board members to descend on the players in that manner, says former Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, who won two Premier League titles and the Champions League with the club.

Despite Chelsea’s awful form Stamford Bridge remains a fortress for them in Europe.

Across the last two seasons, Chelsea’s only home Champions League defeat was against Real Madrid in April 2022, and no away team has ever won two Champions League games at Stamford Bridge.

“We had opportunities to score last week, but at the same time there were a lot of things we could have done better in that game,” said Chelsea boss Frank Lampard.

“I felt that in-game, and I feel it even more having reviewed the game. There were things we wanted to do from the outset that we didn’t do well enough throughout the game.

“That’s not just the physical side, it was our use of the ball. We can improve on that and we have to improve on that to have a chance of turning this tie around. We have worked on that and hopefully you see the fruits of that in the game.

“I am clear with the players with that. I know they have the capacity to give this a good go, but we must get our game right and be better than we were last week.”

Chelsea know that only a spectacular night at Stamford Bridge will be enough to get them into the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Can they pull off an unexpected victory or will Real Madrid ease into the final four?