Focus on coaches as Madrid host Chelsea

MADRID (AP):

THE LATEST encounter between Real Madrid and Chelsea in the Champions League will put a spotlight on their coaches.

Chelsea will travel for today’s first leg in Madrid, with Frank Lampard trying to win for the first time since being named interim coach.

Madrid will play still surrounded by doubts about Carlo Ancelotti’s future amid rumours of him taking over Brazil’s national team.

The outcome could potentially help Lampard reclaim a permanent job with the English club or influence Ancelotti’s decision on whether to accept the Brazil job.

Chelsea appointed Lampard to replace Graham Potter and lost their first game with him in charge in the Premier League over the weekend. The former midfield great also coached the team from 2019-21. Chelsea enter the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on a four-match winless run. They have won only two of their last 11 matches in the Premier League, where they sit in 11th place.

“Games like tomorrow are a great chance to perform and show the personality that makes you a proper leader,” Lampard said yesterday.

“It’s normal in a season when a club like us falls below the levels we want, the character gets questioned. It’s one of the first things probably to get questioned in times of defeat. The only thing the players can do is prove it on the pitch where people can see it.”

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Ancelotti and Madrid are coming off a 3-2 home loss to Villarreal that all but ended their hopes of winning the Spanish league, leaving them 13 points behind leaders Barcelona with 10 matches remaining. Their focus now is on the Champions League and the Copa del Rey final against Osasuna in May.

Ancelotti has said he wants to remain with Madrid until the end of his contract next year but acknowledged that he was flattered to know about Brazil’s interest in him. Brazil’s national team has an interim coach since after the World Cup and wants a replacement to be announced soon.

Ancelotti said having two decades of coaching experience more than Lampard won’t make much of a difference.

“He is a fantastic and extraordinary professional,” Ancelotti said.

“I don’t think that in this case the experience will mean much. He arrived only a week ago, and I’m certain that he will do well for as long as he stays with Chelsea.”

The last two Champions League winners, Madrid and Chelsea, have got used to facing each other in the knockout stages of the competition recently.

Madrid got the best of Chelsea in the quarterfinals last season on its way to a record-extending 14th European title. Chelsea overcame Madrid in the semi-finals in the previous year to eventually secure its second Champions League trophy.

Chelsea eliminated Madrid 3-1 on aggregate amid the coronavirus pandemic in 2020-21, while Madrid last year advanced with a 5-4 total score following extra time in a thrilling second leg at the Bernabeu.