Thiago Silva and Eder Militao played alongside each other in the back line for three of Brazil’s five matches at last year’s World Cup, although the former’s long-standing partnership with Marquinhos meant the Real Madrid man was often used at right-back instead of both players’ regular role in the centre. However, when Real Madrid come to Stamford Bridge, the experienced Selecao captain will be on the opposing side from his 25-year-old compatriot.

• See who trained at Cobham ahead of Real Madrid

• How to follow Chelsea vs Real Madrid

At least, that will be the hope of those in Blue at the Bridge. Thiago Silva had been absent for six weeks due to an injury picked up against Tottenham before making his return in the first leg of this Champions League quarter-final at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, but could feature again in this game after sitting out the weekend’s Premier League fixture with Brighton.

Eder Militao will almost certainly line up at the heart of Real Madrid’s defence again, as he did in the first leg, having played every minute of their Champions League knock-out campaign so far and started eight of their last nine league games, the one exception being when he was among several players rested by Carlo Ancelotti ahead of the first game with Chelsea.

Set-piece threat

Although neither player is in the team for their attacking prowess, as shown by the fact they have only carried the ball into the final third of the pitch once each during open play, their ability in the air means they can both pose a threat in the box at corners and set-pieces.

Eder Militao has the solitary Champions League goal scored between them in 2022/23, but it came from his only shot on target and the statistics show that it might be Thiago Silva who is a more persistent threat in those situations. His two efforts on target from six attempts giving him a superior accuracy of 40 per cent, compared to the younger defender’s 25 per cent from four attempts.

No substitute for experience

With a wealth of Champions League football under his belt, Thiago Silva is one of the most experienced defenders in the game and had already been playing in the competition for nearly a decade when Eder Militao made his debut for Porto at the end of 2018.

That shines through in several of the statistics, particularly when looking at the challenges they make defensively. While his six tackles won to Eder Militao’s four and impressive 75 per cent success rate in tackles, to 50 per cent for the Madrid man, can also be attributed to his natural timing of the challenge, the decision making is clear when adding in the two players’ disciplinary records this season.

Eder Militao has committed more than double the number of fouls (nine to four) and, perhaps most notably, although Thiago Silva’s two yellow cards is one more, only one of our defender’s fouls were committed in our half of the pitch and none of them were in the defensive third, showing he knows when to take a risk and when to play safe.

Elsewhere defensively, they are pretty similar, as Thiago has one more clearance to his name (27 to 26) and Eder edges it in interceptions (eight to seven), but overall the experienced veteran has recovered possession 47 times compared to his younger international team-mate’s 31.

Ordinarily, you would expect that advantage in experience to be balanced out by the younger man’s athleticism, but despite the 13-year difference in age between the two defenders, there is surprisingly little in it judging by the headline figures. The highest speed recorded by Eder Militao in this season’s Champions League (34.3 km/h) is less than one kilometre an hour faster than Thiago Silva, although the Real Madrid player has covered an additional eight kilometres in total on the pitch.