Chelsea face Real Madrid in the latest of their US-based pre-season friendlies, having lost their last fixture 4-2 to Manchester City over the weekend, in a game they were 2-0 down after five minutes and 4-0 down after 56 minutes.
While these are friendlies, purely designed to give players minutes under their belt and to find their feet, for Chelsea they do hold some importance given that over the summer they parted ways with Mauricio Pochettino, a manager who seemed to be getting the best of his squad, and replaced him with Enzo Maresca, a manager who had his fair share of critics last season despite steering Leicester City to the Championship title. For Chelsea, facing Real Madrid will be no less of an arduous task than the City game.
| Chelsea vs. Real Madrid: Match Information | |
|---|---|
| When | 7 August 2024 |
| Where | Bank of America Stadium |
| Time | 00:00 BST |
| Location | Charlotte, USA |
| TV | Streamed live on Chelsea’s website |
Form Guide
Chelsea have yet to find any rhythm in pre-season
While it wasn’t a full-strength Chelsea team that lost to City, there’s an argument to suggest it was Chelsea who had more experience on the field, with Moises Caicedo, Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Christopher Nkunku all starting, while Manchester City made 11 substitutions in the game, bringing on a host of teenagers. Although Chelsea have beaten Mexican side Club America 3-0 in their pre-season campaign, they were also beaten 4-1 by Celtic.
Real Madrid have yet to win in pre-season, albeit they have only played two games, going down 1-0 to AC Milan and then 2-1 to Barcelona on Sunday. Only two players from the starting line-up of Madrid’s Champions League Final win over Borussia Dortmund in June started at the weekend against their La Liga rivals. They were Thibaut Courtois and Antonio Rudiger.
Best Odds and Predictions
Odds
Unibet are offering 11/10 on a Real Madrid win, with 17/10 on Chelsea being victorious, and a draw at 3/1. Both teams to score is 4/11. Although Chelsea have had some indifferent pre-season results, they have at least scored in every game so far. For both teams not to score it’s 9/5. On the over and under betting, they are offering 7/10 on the Spanish side to score more than 1.5 goals and 26/25 to score less than that, with Chelsea being 10/11 to get more than 1.5 goals and 3/4 on getting less.
Prediction
Chelsea are likely to have a more experienced team to pick from, but up until now they have been shipping goals in their pre-season campaign. They have played more games than Madrid so far, but the Spaniards will have Vinicius Junior and Endrick to call upon, who could expose any further mistakes Chelsea make at the back, meaning this could result in a Real Madrid win by 2-1.
Head-to-head Record
| Chelsea vs. Real Madrid competitive matches record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | 9 | ||
| Chelsea wins | 4 | ||
| Real Madrid wins | 3 | ||
| Draws | 2 | ||
| 19 May 1971 | European Cup Winners Cup Final | Karaiskakis Stadium, Greece | 1-1 AET |
| 21 May 1971 | European Cup Winners Cup Final Replay | Karaiskakis Stadium, Greece | Chelsea win 2-1 |
| 28 Aug 1998 | UEFA Super Cup Final | Monaco | Chelsea win 1-0 |
| 27 Apr 2021 | Champions League semi-final first leg | Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, Madrid | 1-1 |
| 5 May 2021 | Champions League semi-final second leg | Stamford Bridge | Chelsea win 2-0 |
| 6 Apr 2022 | Champions League quarter-final first leg | Stamford Bridge | Madrid win 3-1 |
| 12 Apr 2022 | Champions League quarter-final second leg | Bernabeu | Chelsea win 3-2 |
| 12 Apr 2023 | Champions League quarter-final first leg | Bernabeu | Madrid win 2-0 |
| 18 Apr 2023 | Champions League quarter-final second leg | Stamford Bridge | Madrid win 2-0 |
Team News
Madrid’s Brazilian stars likely to feature
Chelsea have featured a variety of youth and experience in their pre-season campaign so far. It’s likely they will continue in such a way. Cole Palmer is still resting after the Euros, while Conor Gallagher appears to be on the verge of leaving for Atletico Madrid. Other than that, Chelsea will have wealth and talent to pick from. Robert Sanchez will probably continue in goal. Reece James should start as captain while Raheem Sterling scored against Manchester City and has been arguably Chelsea’s best player in pre-season.
Luka Modric captained Madrid in their friendly with Barcelona, so it’s likely he will play a part against Chelsea. Vinicius Junior came on for the last 33 minutes – it’s probable that he too will feature against Chelsea. New Brazilian signing Endrick played the first 70 minutes, so Madrid will not be short of attacking options, even in the absence of new signing Kylian Mbappe, who is rumoured to not make his Madrid debut until his new side face Atalanta in the European Super Cup Final in Poland on 14 August. It’s unlikely Jude Bellingham will return in a Madrid jersey until then either.
Stats via Transfermarkt.