The Skipper

This is bollocks mate, sorry. Did you watch them in the previous leg? You can't ignore quality players like Bale, Di Maria, Benzema and Isco. It's one game.

It's not as black and white as some of you are trying to make it out to be though... Yes Real aren't beastly at the back but to basically ignore their strike force is illogical IMO. They don't play like Bayern or Barca, they're more of a counter attacking team that's all about speed in their transition game so I really don't get how people think our strategy suit them the most. You bring up the Barcelona game - we don't play like Barcelona and don't have their offensive power so that's irrelevant and as you rightly pointed out, they should've easily put that game to bed but they weren't as clinical as they should be. Let's take a team that has a similar play style to us and look at their results vs Real; Atletico Madrid: Real 0 - 1 Atletico Real 3 - 0 Atletico Atletico 0 - 2 Atletico Atletico 2 - 2 Madrid As you can see, Atletico, a team very similar to us in how they play, have struggled in general to get results against Real. You should use them as a yardstick, not PSG or Barcelona. Now I'm not saying we can't beat them, of course we can, but people are massively underrating them and ignoring other aspects of their game because they've been shaky in a few games this season at the back; which is goes back to my initial point - yes, they're shaky at the back but we aren't exactly the greatest at going forward either, so I really don't know why people are trying to act like it's some sort of massive advantage for us as if we've consistently raped vulnerable defences this year.

People are massively underrating this Real side IMO... So what if Ronaldo is out? A front four of Benzema, Di Maria, Bale and Isco is still brilliant. Real have been shaky for a few weeks and suddenly people forget that they recently went on a 30+ unbeaten streak. Our high press would work the best on Bayern. Real are not a possession based side first and foremost, in fact they're a counter attacking side at heart. People are forgetting that an on form Real beat Atletico Madrid who play very similar to us, 5-0 on aggregate in the cup.

Why do people keep bringing this up like we're awesome going forward?

Personally I think he'd struggle with the pace of the PL.

So let's send out Hazard out on loan because he's still a kid and he still needs experience then.Courtois has experienced a lot at Atletico already, his age is irrelevant. He's mature beyond his years.

Thursday isn't over yet though?Could've at least let the voting run till like the evening or something, instead of closing it at 9:45am...

The poll should've been left open for much longer, seems to me that Alex just waited for Azpi to go ahead by one to close the poll.

Did you just wait for Azpi to get more votes than Eden to close it? This should've been left open for longer, not a lot of people voted IMO.

I'm talking about how Real set up as a team tactically, not about how bad their individual players are defensively. If you look at the way each team sets up tactically then Bayern suits our game the most.

Napoli maybe, but not PSG. Mourinho just tactically outsmarted Blanc in the second leg IMO.

How can he create when Hazard and Oscar are the ones who carry the ball the most in our attack? His role is what he's been praised for all season - his defensive abilities, his work rate, leading the high press, recovering and laying the ball off to our main playmakers in the team in Hazard and Oscar... He's often instructed to drop back too much in order to connect play and provide more defensive solidity. Look at his average positioning against PSG for example: How is he meant to create if he's constantly not even in the final third? As I said before, the role Mourinho has given him when he plays on the right is not to be a creator but more of a facilitator for our attack. Again, as he's shown against Stoke - if he is entrusted in his natural role he'll create and score. People have misunderstood his role in the team if they think he's our prime creator or is meant to be consistently scoring goals. Willian is the "assist before the actual assist" type of player.

We haven't seen enough of him to judge him in that manner in my opinion. Like I said, he's not being instructed by our manager to create, his role in the team is to balance our attack and therefore his attacking contributions are maligned. He's not a winger, he's a number 10, and when number 10s play out wide their offensive contribution isn't as great. Besides, this is also his first season in the PL - he's still acclimatising. At least give him another season to fully prove his attacking threat.

He got sent off, that's why he lost his spot. Again, he is a creative player and should be assisting and scoring more but he isn't being used regularly as one by the manager, that's the difference. It's no coincidence that when he is thrusted with being the side's main creator ala versus Stoke that he suddenly created and scores. Even Mata who played the Willian role now and then before he left couldn't assist or score anywhere near as much as he did last year. Mourinho is marginalising his attacking role so we're more balanced as a team. I'm pretty sure when we have a more complete team next season we'll see the best of Willian more often.

No it isn't his job. The sides main creators are Hazard and Oscar.

How do Real suit us more tactically than Bayern do?

Experience doesn't really matter that much, Barcelona are far more experienced than Atletico in the CL QF, where did that bring them?

This "kid" is one of the main reasons Atletico are where they are right now, in the CL semis and top of La Liga. He's experienced enough already at Atletico, the "kid" reason is void and irrelevant now.

His flick in the game was exquisite, don't know if anyone remembers what minute it was?

Yeah sorry pal, completely went over my head - exam season is just taking over everything. But yeah... Still 100% baby

25 goals this season.

This result is so, so vital for the future of this young team. What I loved the most about this result is the fact that these guys showed that they can come up with the goods when the going gets tough. This win was all about character building, and these lot learned a lot today. They learned that as a Chelsea FC player, you never give up. That is the most important thing about today's victory. The heart and character the team showed. So proud of these lads.

Thank you. Agree with all of that, especially the bolded part.

His attitude is fantastic. He's written himself into the CFC history books with that huge goal.

I did say the kid is made for European nights