Ally McCoist thinks Chelsea have less chance of beating Real Madrid tonight without their injured star Romelu Lukaku.
Chelsea visit the Bernabeu on Tuesday evening to play the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.
The Blues were beaten 3-1 last week at home to Madrid in the first leg, so it looks like quite the ask to overturn the aggregate deficit.
However, Thomas Tuchel’s side go into the contest off the back of thumping 6-0 win at the weekend in the Premier League. Also, they’re the defending European champions that won’t want to exit the competition quietly.
Chelsea will need to win tonight without 28-year-old striker Lukaku, whose absence has already been confirmed pre-match by his manager Tuchel due to an injury.
The centre-forward didn’t score in the first leg defeat to Madrid, but he did come off the bench and carve out two goalscoring opportunities that he ultimately missed.
Kai Havertz is the only Chelsea player in the squad to score more goals (13) than Lukaku this season.
McCoist thinks the reigning European champions still have some hope of reaching the semis, but feels the absence of Lukaku is quite the blow.
“I’d be more confident if Lukaku was fit to give them an option of Lukaku or [Timo] Werner. They (Chelsea) have got a chance. If they can nick the first goal, it’s game on,” McCoist told talkSPORT.
Havertz time
Yes, it would’ve been great to have the option of Lukaku tonight.
He’s a target man that asks different questions of the Madrid backline and there will be a point tonight when the team need to throw the kitchen sink at it.
It now looks like the pressure will fall on the calm shoulders of Havertz.
The 22-year-old’s finding his best form in a Chelsea shirt, so Blues fans should have faith in him to come up with another big moment.
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