Real Madrid assess fears of referees favouring Chelsea in the Champions League
According to Metro, Real Madrid have downplayed any fears that referees may favour Chelsea in the Champions League. The Blues take on Real Madrid in the semi-final and there have been fears that Real Madrid will be given the cold shoulder by referees due to their idea of the European Super League.
It has been a landmark week for European football. 12 of Europe’s elite football clubs proposed the idea of the ESL – a closed tournament only for the founding clubs and few others. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez was spearheading the idea with the backing of the owners of other clubs. However, with so much backlash from all corners, the idea failed to come to fruition.
The Premier League clubs buckled under pressure and withdrew and within 3 days, most of the other clubs had also backed out. The idea was put on hold by Perez for the time being. Speaking ahead of the crucial semi-final first leg, manager Zinedine Zidane and Raphael Varane spoke on whether Real Madrid will be negatively affected due to the above issues.
‘I don’t believe that. The referee will do his job, as always, and we just think about playing football, nothing else. We cannot start thinking that we will be negatively affected by all that is going on, all we cannot control.’
Defender Varane reiterated the same and remained focused on the game.
‘We are focused on what we can control, the effort we will have to make and finding the best way to win the game. Other things are outside our control.’
More Chelsea News :
- Transfer News: Raphael Varane now a priority for Chelsea in the summer
- Injury Update: Real Madrid set to welcome Sergio Ramos back for Chelsea tie in the UEFA Champions League
- Transfer News: Chelsea receive Gianluigi Donnarumma boost ahead of summer window
This will be the first game in a UEFA tournament since the whole ESL saga. So far, there have been no sanctions against either club and the tie will proceed as scheduled. UEFA could wait until the end of the season to decide if they want to reprimand the founder clubs.