Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink urges Chelsea to channel past success over Real Madrid as motivation
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, a legendary Chelsea player, has advised the club to draw inspiration from previous victories in order to upset Real Madrid in the upcoming Champions League quarterfinal.
For the second consecutive season, the Blues and Real Madrid were drawn together for the Champions League last eight match. The West Londoners still hold a lead over Real Madrid in their head-to-head record despite being eliminated last season.
In seven games between the two clubs, Chelsea have won four, drew two, and lost just once. Clearly few sides can claim to have such a record against the reigning European champions.
Nevertheless, they fell to Los Blancos last season after mounting a 3-2 comeback on April 13, 2022, at the Bernabeu following a 3-1 defeat in the first leg at Stamford Bridge. And Hasselbaink thinks Chelsea could draw inspiration from previous victories over the Spanish team if it wants to defeat them.
Hassenaink explained to the Hindustan Times, (h/t Football.London) why leveraging prior success as motivation might be effective:
“If you want to win the Champions League, you have to beat the best.”
‘It’s not going to be an easy game, but you have to believe. We have done it in the past, and there’s no reason why we can’t do it again.’
Given that we overcame them in the 2020–21 season following a manager change, as Tuchel led Chelsea to Champions League success, they may be used as inspiration.
Chelsea were on the brink of defeating Real in the second leg last season, but somehow the Spaniards managed to make a comeback. Nevertheless, the current situation is different because Chelsea are going through a re-building process; the players are slowly displaying cohesion on the pitch.
Real are mental monsters; they possess players who have won five Champions League titles and even if the odds are not on their side they always seem to find a way.
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Meanwhile, half of Chelsea’s squad is young, but you may never know what the future holds, and football cannot be predicted, but hopefully, the players will certainly give their utmost against them.