Chelsea had two late bids rejected for Brighton starlet Zak Sturge in the winter transfer window.
According to Express, Thomas Tuchel has a plan to counter the presence of Sergio Ramos. The Real Madrid captain is set to return to action from injury against Chelsea but Tuchel hinted at a measure to keep the defender’s influence to a minimum.
Chelsea will welcome Real Madrid to Stamford Bridge next week for the second-leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final clash. The first leg, played in Spain last week, ended in a 1-1 draw after Karim Benzema cancelled out Christian Pulisic’s goal.
Heading into the second leg, the away goal does give us a bit of an advantage. However, Real Madrid are set to be bolstered by the return of their key player and talisman Sergio Ramos for the trip to the Bridge. The veteran defender has been sidelined for quite a while now due to injury as well as coronavirus.
With Ramos all but set to feature in the second leg, Thomas Tuchel has come up with a tactic to null the defender’s presence.
“If we play with no striker at all and Ramos has nothing to fight then that can also be a solution. I have not made my mind up yet. It’s another challenge because he is the leader of their group and he is the guy to give a lot of solutions to any questions that we will hopefully ask them.
“We will wait and see who is in good shape and good form, what shape we play and where we try to hurt them. I’m not too sure if they will play again with five or go back to four [in defence] so there are many questions, but we don’t need the answers now. It’s enough if we have them on Wednesday.”
Chelsea have often used the false-nine tactic this season, with Kai Havertz flourishing in the setup. However, the same working against a world-class operator like Ramos is a bit of a gamble. Tuchel could go with the false nine or even try out a much more physical No.9 like Olivier Giroud who can take on the Real Madrid captain.
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