Focus on coaches as Madrid host Chelsea in CL quarterfinal first leg match

MADRID: The latest encounter between Real Madrid and Chelsea in the Champions League will put a spotlight on their coaches.

Chelsea will travel for Wednesday’s first leg in Madrid with Frank Lampard trying to win for the first time since being named interim coach.

Madrid will play still surrounded by doubts about Carlo Ancelotti’s future amid rumors of him taking over Brazil’s national team.

The outcome could potentially help Lampard reclaim a permanent job with the English club, or influence Ancelotti’s decision on whether to accept the Brazil job.

Chelsea appointed Lampard to replace Graham Potter and lost their first game with him in charge in the Premier League over the weekend. The former midfield great also coached the team from 2019-21. The club enters the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on a four-match winless run. It has won only two of its last 11 matches in the Premier League, where it sits in 11th place.

“Games like tomorrow are a great chance to perform and show the personality that makes you a proper leader,” Lampard said Tuesday. “It’s normal in a season when a club like us falls below the levels we want the character gets questioned. It’s one of the first things probably to get questioned in times of defeat. The only thing the players can do is prove it on the pitch where people can see it.”

Ancelotti and Madrid are coming off a 3-2 home loss to Villarreal that all-but-ended the team’s hopes of winning the Spanish league, leaving it 13 points behind leader Barcelona with 10 matches remaining. Its focus now is on the Champions League and the Copa del Rey final against Osasuna in May.

Ancelotti has said he wants to remain with Madrid until the end of his contract next year, but acknowledged