Chelsea vs Real Madrid

Minute-by-minute report: Join Barry Glendenning for updates as Chelsea look to repeat last season's success over the 13-times European Cup winners.

Chelsea host Real Madrid in the first leg of a mouthwatering quarter-final match-up that is nigh on impossible to call. The occasion is special and the opponent is special. Christian Pulisic is back in contention for a place in the starting line-up after being rested over the weekend following his late return from international duty with the USA. Ruben Loftus-Cheek may make way from the side that lost against Brentford for Mateo Kovacic or Jorginho. 1 min: Chelsea get the ball rolling and it is sent wafting towards the right touchline. They line up either side of French referee Clement Turpin and his team of match officials ahead of the Champions League anthem, which is drowned out by noise from the stands. But at the same time is what we love. Reece James takes the free-kick and his low curler brings a fairly straightforward save out of Courtois. Chelsea old boy Thibaut Courtois was on hand to talk up Real Madrid’s chances. “Last season’s tie was different,” he said of Real’s exit a year ago. Real Madrid win it back immediately. 14 min: The first quarter hour has flown by, with neither team asserting dominance.

The players are drenched and the ball is skipping away from them on this slick pitch.

He will be without Eden Hazard, who is having surgery on the plate that has held his ankle in place for the past two years. This could become a familiar fixture for the three Chelsea defenders rumoured to be Camp Nou bound next season and one would expect a significantly higher level of concentration and positional discipline than they showed at the weekend. "Everyone has to be on front foot for a big opponent on big occasions for the quarter-finals. If we can match that we have a lot of quality to win the game and take a good result back to the Bernabeu. They can look brittle at times but Carlo Ancelotti remains the elite player whisperer, making his words somehow resound like war drums in battle-hardened players' ears. Today he will play as long as possible. A sad night for the pop-up sprinkler fans. Militao brings the ball out of defence and plays Valverde in down the right. Rudiger barges Casemiro over just outside the centre-circle. Valverde takes the tackle on, rides it and sets off down the right, playing the ball inside to Benzema who dribbles forward while tacking left. He goes for the Barnes-Wallis bouncing bomb method but there's no centre-forward run to capitalise on it and Courtois, in any case, is unflappable. That was very difficult to meet sweetly but he couldn't have done so any better.