TALKING POINTS
Chelsea know any win will do, away goal or no away goal, in this Champions League semi-final second leg. The winners will play Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid, who qualified with ease last night at the Allianz Arena, scene of Chelsea's unforgettable success in the 2012 final.
Tonight's opponents, Atletico Madrid, are the only unbeaten side still left in the Champions League and have conceded just five times in 11 matches. The Blues are aiming to reach a third successive European final but have a patchy record of qualifying from just two of the previous six semi-finals in this competition.
The game is poised at 0-0 and concern has been expressed at the lack of an away goal for the Blues. Ten semi-finals in the Champions League and Europa League/UEFA Cup over the past decade have been goalless after the first leg. Seven of those ties were won by the team playing the second leg at home.
Look, also, at those teams beaten by Chelsea in the knockout stages of the last three Champions Leagues: Napoli, Benfica, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Galatasaray and Paris Saint-Germain. The only club seen off by any other English side over the same period is Olympiacos.
KEY STAT
Atletico's heaviest away defeat in the Champions League was at Stamford Bridge in the group stage in 2009.
What makes this clash most fascinating is that the two sides appear almost mirror images of each other, their success founded on brilliant defending and lightning counter attacks. Atletico are hungry, disciplined and combative, though the Londoners' greater experience at this level should not be underestimated.
The accusation of Chelsea being 'defensive' is a leitmotif played out in media coverage over the last few weeks. Interestingly, though, Jose Mourinho's side enjoyed a greater share of ball possession in the first leg than 'attacking' Real Madrid managed at home to Bayern last week (38 per cent compared to 36).
Big absentees may again play a part in the outcome. Diego Simeone has to plan without his influential skipper Gabi, who is banned. The Spanish holding midfielder is one of three ever-presents for the Rojiblancos in this competition and the Mattress-makers generally lack experience such as his.
Our former player Deco this week emphasised that point, saying: 'I have played at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea for Barcelona so I know how difficult it is to play there, and a lot of the Atletico team have never played in a game like this.'
No doubt Mourinho, fresh from his exhortations to the away supporters at Liverpool, will demand an atmosphere as intimidating as that whipped up for PSG around Stamford Bridge tonight. The Vicente Calderon was certainly rocking last week.
The Blues will be without suspended Frank Lampard and John Mikel Obi as well as the ineligible Nemanja Matic and Mohamed Salah. Injury will also deprive Chelsea of the PFA's team of the year goalkeeper, Petr Cech.
Eden Hazard, John Terry, Samuel Eto'o and, to a very minor extent, Cech all participated in training yesterday. Mourinho has announced that newly crowned PFA Young Player of the Year Hazard is available to return to action after missing the first leg, should he select him; Terry and Cech were both injured during that match.
JT's availability is testament to his extraordinary powers of recovery and the excellent medical team at the football club. We have seen this before, of course. The defender was carried off the field at Porto in 2007 and looked a certainty to miss the League Cup final against Arsenal. He returned, near-miraculously and in a great boost to morale, only to be K.O.-ed by the boot of Abou Diaby during a fine Chelsea victory.
Perhaps, had he not been fit today, Chelsea could have strapped him to a horse with a lance, 'El Cid'-style, and sent him trotting round the Stamford Bridge pitch anyway.
Atletico v Chelsea
An air of romance and destiny has been attached to Atletico's progress to what would be their first European Cup final in four decades. The same thing applied domestically before Chelsea's success at shell-shocked Anfield last weekend.
Sunday's wonderful win meant we had completed the league double over the two teams best placed to win title: Liverpool and Manchester City.
There were seven changes from the heroes of the first leg in Madrid five days earlier in a team selection conceived to give maximum rest to the protagonists in tonight's decisive match. None of the Blues players voted into the PFA team of the season by their peers - Hazard, Gary Cahill and injured Cech - lined up for kick-off.
Tomas Kalas, making his league debut, was impeccable at one end and at the other might even have opened the scoring with a header. When he named his starting XI, Mourinho asked his squad to share where they made their debut. For many it was a small, lower league ground, not Anfield in coronation mode.
The discussion simultaneously lightened the mood for the novice involved while reminding everyone of the magnitude of the occasion. Thus prepared and supported by his teammates, the 20-year-old was note-perfect.
It may not be music to everyone's ears, but there is a majesty about these top footballers playing in concert to conductor Mourinho's elaborate score. With very different personnel, in the matter of a few days Chelsea have shut out the league leaders of Spain and England, both with around 100 goals to their credit.
This was our fifth double over the Reds, starting in 1919/20. The last three were 2004/05, 2005/06 and 2009/10. We all know what else happened those seasons.
In contrast to the Blues' pragmatic line-up on Sunday, the Atletico side that started their hard-fought 1-0 win at Valencia later that evening showed just two changes from the semi-final first leg. There may be some tired legs on show tonight.
Please note that before kick-off supporters will be asked to observe a minute's silence as a mark of respect for two great coaches, Barcelona's Tito Vilanova and Vujadin Boškov of Sampdoria and the Yugoslavia national side, who sadly passed away recently.
If the score after 90 minutes is 0-0 then extra time will be played and, if necessary, penalties taken. The away goals rule applies, so any other score will result in the game ending after normal time and stoppages.
Chelsea have won three of our last five penalty shoot-outs, the last being at the Allianz Arena in the 2012 Champions League final against Bayern Munich. Our opponents Atletico have lost all three of their shoot-outs in UEFA competitions, the last being in 2004.
The final will be played in Benfica's 65,000 capacity Stadium of Light in Lisbon on Saturday 24 May kick off 7.45pm (BST).
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