Former Chelsea midfield maestro, Mikel Obi, is expecting the struggling club to beat Real Madrid in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals round tonight.
Mikel Obi who helped Chelsea to win the UEFA Champions League title in 2012 is hoping that the club’s caretaker coach Frank Lampard who was his teammate during his days at Chelsea could push the team to cause an upset.
Note that Chelsea has been struggling in the Premier League, especially in 2023. Their poor form has forced the club’s owners to sack the club’s coach Graham Potter and replaced him with Lampard who coached the club from 2019 to 2021.
In his first and only game since his return to Chelsea, Lampard led Chelsea to suffer an unexpected defeat at the hands of relegation-threatened Wolves less than four days before their encounter with Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu scheduled for 8 PM today, April 12.
Chelsea are going into the Champions League match sitting in the 11th spot in the league table, 12 points away from the relegation zone. Despite Chelsea’s current terrible form, Mikel Obi who played for the club between 2006 and 2017 believes the club could get a favorable result tonight.
“When it comes to the remaining games in the Premier League I think Frank Lampard has got nothing to lose but when you look at the Champions League every body thinks it is going to be a Madrid win but I hope that Chelsea can be able to do it,” Obi told Dubai Eye 103.8 Sport.
“When you look at the two teams and considering who is in form and who is not in form, I think Madrid are playing very well and they just beat Barcelona 4-0 at home. If you look at both teams and size them up you will believe that Madrid are going to go through but I hope my old team can do it and with Frank Lampard in charge I hope he can bring back the magic to the club.
“It is going to be a tough game for Chelsea playing against Madrid but I want to give Chelsea a chance.”
