Drawing 1-1 at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano on Tuesday night, Chelsea will go back to England full of confidence they can see off Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge next week.
They’ve got the away goal, confidence is higher than it was prior to the game, and the prospect of facing either Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain should be enough to see them over the line.
Of course, you should never count out Zinedine Zidane’s men, who are known for producing great performances in the Champions League regardless of how they fare in other competitions, but their job will have been made a little bit harder now they know they might have to do it without Marcelo.
The Brazilian isn’t injured, but he could still miss the game because he’s been randomly selected to work at a polling station for local elections on May 4th.
As reported by El Mundo, both Real Madrid and Marcelo ‘have tried, although without success as of yet, to justify’ why he needs to miss his civic duty, meaning that as things stand, he will be unable to travel with his teammates for the game, scheduled for May 5th.
‘Selected to be part of a polling station in the elections for the Madrid Assembly’, Marcelo is said to be ‘very upset by his electoral luck’ (or lack thereof), and with Ferland Mendy potentially still injured next week, there could be a gap in Zidane’s squad the French manager will need to fill.
El Mundo list the reasons why someone would be exempt of said polling station duty, but the Brazilian doesn’t meet any of those, especially with the Electoral Board arguing he could then join his teammates on May 5th, travelling on the same day as the game.
That is, however, ‘complicated by Covid protocols’ and why Real Madrid’s legal department and the player’s entourage are currently working ‘against the current to convince them that the defender must travel with his teammates to the English capital on Tuesday’.
They, as mentioned above, have been rejected for now, but ‘Madrid will resort to try to get Marcelo’ with them in time for the game either way.
