The Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Real
Madrid is finely poised after the 1-1 draw in Spain last night.
Zinedine Zidane’s side have been struggling with injuries lately and
it looks like players are starting to return to fitness, but it now
appears that they’ll be without Marcelo for the second leg.
This has nothing to do with fitness or suspension, but it’s reported
by El Mundo that he’s been for polling duty in Madrid on the day of
the second leg.
There were hopes that it might end in time for him to fly over and
take part, but there are covid-19 protocols that make that difficult
and it genuinely looks like he’s going to be forced to miss the
game.
They go on to say that Real Madrid are currently fighting with the
electoral board to free the player to play in this game, but nothing
has been agreed at this point.
There is some precedent in this matter as it’s claimed that a
Levante player managed to escape similar duty back in 2019 but
that was in a different city so it might not matter here.
He may not be an obvious difference maker for the second leg but
he’s one of Zidane’s favourites and someone he relies on heavily in
the big games, so this will be a major blow for Real if they can’t
find a way out of this.
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