The leading lights of two great capital cities – Chelsea and Real Madrid – clash for the second season running in Europe’s elite competition. Last year the Blues navigated the penultimate step with a 3-1 aggregate victory to reach the final.

Tonight they meet one step earlier, in the quarter-finals, and history is on the side of the reigning champions. Los Blancos have faced the Londoners more times without success than any other rival in their history, Chelsea triumphant in three of our five previous meetings in all competitions stretching back to the Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1971.

Similarly, Blues head coach Thomas Tuchel has faced Real more often without losing than any other coach in Champions League history (six played, two won, four drawn). Yet up to now no English club has ended Real’s campaign in the knockout stages of this competition on more than one occasion.

Veteran Real midfielder Toni Kroos’s comment after the last-eight draw – ‘nobody wanted Chelsea’ – will have delighted Tuchel, who in January vowed to build a team opponents dread to face. Tonight’s crowd will have a huge part to play in that intimidation too, and this is the last full house at Stamford Bridge for the immediate future. ‘We need to be better,’ Tuchel said yesterday, referring to the Brentford defeat, ‘and we need the crowd to be better.’

The Londoners have kept 10 clean sheets in 15 Champions League outings since Tuchel took charge – the best record of any club in the competition. In contrast, Los Blancos have managed two shut-outs in their past 16 European knockout fixtures.

Chelsea team news

Chelsea are unbeaten in eight when facing Spanish opposition (comprising four wins and four draws), including the past five under Thomas Tuchel’s tutelage (three wins and two draws).

Never the less, Saturday’s domestic humbling by Brentford should have shaken any complacency out of Tuchel’s team. ‘It’s a summary of strange events,’ was the head coach’s observation after a decidedly distracted display. It was the Blues’ first loss immediately after an international break this season.

The Bavarian started the 1-4 defeat with a 4-3-3 formation but may revert to a back three this evening. Among the positives, at least N’Golo Kante was taken off early for rest. The France midfielder was awarded man of the match for both legs of last season’s semi-final against Real and while Carlo Ancelotti will seek a way to neutralise the Frenchman, that is easier said than done.

One or both of the rested Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic (who entered the fray against the Bees from the bench), could be restored to midfield. Christian Pulisic was left out after his globetrotting with the USA but should be ready to go against Real, whose rearguard he tormented last season. The Pennsylvania Express has scored three and assisted three under Tuchel in this competition.

The home leg last season, which ended 2-0, was remarkable for the number of chances the Londoners carved out but missed with only the goalkeeper to beat. Real committed a lot of fouls around their box and were caught out down the flanks, their wide midfielders slow to offer defensive support.

Chelsea’s midfield against Real’s much-vaunted trio is a potentially decisive battle, but another could be Reece James versus Vinicius Junior. Win those, make the Bridge a cauldron, and the Blues can take an advantage into the near-full Santiago Bernabeu Stadium next Tuesday.

The Real deal

Between their 2-0 semi-final defeat at Stamford Bridge last May and February’s 1-0 Round of 16 away leg loss at PSG, Real Madrid won all their matches on the road in this competition to nil. They have not won a knockout match on an English club’s home ground for nine years, when since Jose Mourinho got the better of Man United in Sir Alex Ferguson’s last-ever Champions League game.

Their shock 0-4 home defeat to Barcelona a fortnight ago may have exposed deficiencies but Los Blancos are 12 points clear at the top of La Liga. The scoreline would have been much worse but for the interventions of onetime Chelsea gloveman Thibaut Courtois. With little to bar Barca’s thrusting runs from midfield, Real’s defence was regularly exposed and both full-backs, Dani Carvajal and Nacho Fernandez, had been replaced after little more than an hour’s action.

First-choice left-back Ferland Mendy should be back to play alongside Carvajal and centre-backs David Alaba and Eder Militao this evening. Mendy and Casemiro missed the second Round of 16 leg against the Parisians through suspension, though former Blues favourite Eden Hazard is out for a while following an operation and Isco remains a doubt.Standout performer Vinicius Junior has contributed to 27 goals in all competitions (although mostly over the first half of the season), and Real’s attacks are skewed towards his left flank. Karim Benzema’s eye for goal is as sharp as ever, with a tally of goals to match his age: 34. On Saturday, in a 2-1 win at mid-table Celta Viga, the Liga leaders were awarded three penalties, taken by the forward, of which one was saved.

It was his first-leg hat-trick against PSG that carried Los Blancos into this round, and the talismanic skipper missed the 4-0 Barca debacle with a calf injury. Instead Rodrygo partnered Vinicius in a 4-diamond–2 formation that changed to match Barcelona’s 4-3-3 after substitutions. This evening Marco Asensio, who has found the net 10 times from the right flank, is likely to complete their front three.

Champions League regulations

Five substitutions are allowed in the Champions League, as are concussion replacements. As of this season’s competition the so-called ‘away goals rule’ has been abolished. Ties that are level after the second leg will go to extra time and, if required, a penalty shoot-out, irrespective of the number of away goals a team has scored.

All cautions not leading to a suspension will expire after this round of matches, but until then three yellow cards mean a ban. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Real Madrid centre-back Eder Militao would miss the next European fixture if cautioned in this tie.

The draw for the semi-finals has already been made, with the winner of this tie facing whoever progresses from Manchester City versus Atletico – two other opponents Chelsea faced in last season’s competition. Last night’s first leg was settled by a Kevin De Bruyne goal.

For those making it all the way, the final will be staged at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, just north of Paris, on Saturday 28 May.

Ancelotti not absent

Eden Hazard is one popular former Blue absent tonight but reports on Wednesday morning are that Carlo Ancelotti has now tested negative for Covid following previous positive tests and is flying to London to be at the game. During Real’s 2-1 win at Celta on Saturday his son and assistant, Davide, received the head coach’s instructions by telephone. As Ancelotti junior lacks the required licence it was goalkeeping coach Luis Llopis who passed the orders on from the touchline.

Ancelotti is the third former coach the Blues will have encountered in European competition, and the first for 12 years. The Blues overcame Claudio Ranieri’s Juventus 3-2 on aggregate in the 2008/09 knockout stage, but were beaten 3-1 over two legs by Jose Mourinho the following season.

We have history

Back in 2011/12 when Chelsea raised this competition’s trophy aloft for the first time it was famously done in Bayern’s own backyard – ‘Unser Stadion’ and all that. Yet the Blues might easily have met Madrid in the final, Munich having edged past Los Blancos after a semi-final shoot-out in which Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Sergio Ramos all failed from the spot.

That would have been another showdown between two sides who up to last season had never met outside of the final in any competition. The previous two occasions were the 1970/71 Cup Winners’ Cup final and replay, in which Peter Osgood delivered the decisive blow, and the 1998 UEFA Super Cup, sealed by Gustavo Poyet’s lone strike.

This is Real’s second competitive visit to Stamford Bridge and third overall. In November 1966 the likes of Ramon Grosso, Zoco Esparza and a 39-year-old Ferenc Puskas played a friendly in aid of international Jewish charities, a Tony Hateley header and John Hollins’ strike from the edge of the box delivering a 2-0 win for the hosts in front of a big crowd.

The Blues’ victory by the same scoreline last season was equally comfortable. Sergio Ramos and former Chelsea favourite Eden Hazard were recalled by Zinedine Zidane but were short of fitness, while Timo Werner picked the perfect time to net his first Blues goal in this competition, and Mason Mount became the second-youngest Englishman to score in its semi-finals.

Neck and cuello

The current European and world champions Chelsea and the European Cup’s most regular winners Real Madrid share identical records this season as the competition’s fifth-highest goalscorers (17 scored) and best defence (five goals against). Whereas Chelsea’s expected goals against figure is 6.6, however, Real’s is 9.3, placing them sixth among the eight quarter-finalists on that metric. Los Blancos have also lost twice in this campaign, including last time out at PSG, compared to the Blues’ single defeat.

Happy birthday, Blancos

Last month Real celebrated the 120th anniversary of their foundation as Madrid FC on 6 March 1902. Eighteen years later, in June 1920, they added the ‘Real’ (‘royal’) prefix to their name and a crown to their badge after a letter of permission from King Alfonso XIII. Sorry to tell Madrilenos, but Alfonso had watched from a ‘royal box’ at the Bridge as Chelsea thrashed Bradford 4-0 on 3 November 1919 – seven months earlier.

He reportedly watched with keen attention and made knowledgeable comments throughout, noting ‘the good-humoured way in which heavy charges were given and taken, and to the fact that there was no loss of temper, although the game was strenuous enough.’ Still waiting for the letter, though.

Champions League quarter-finals (all BT Sport)

TuesdayBenfica 1 Liverpool 3Man City 1 Atletico 0

WednesdayChelsea v Real Madrid 8pmVillarreal v Bayern Munich 8pm

Premier League midweek fixture

WednesdayBurnley v Everton 7.30pm