The old comedy cliché felt annoyingly fitting at the weekend - ‘Always remember that when one door closes, another slams in your face.’ Conor Gallagher gets the opener and our hopes were raised but once again it wasn’t to be our day.

A very decent Brighton side deserved the three points in the end and Frank Lampard wasn’t going to argue too strongly against that outcome. For someone who has been brought up to be a winner, it couldn’t have been easy for Frank to cope with the weekend’s result, but he knew deep down that although important, this game had to be considered in proportion to tonight’s match.

This is the proverbial ‘it’ for Chelsea this season and I think many agree that ‘it’ is a huge ask in the current circumstances. From the outsider’s point of view, those who haven’t got blue blood flowing through their veins, there isn’t even a question about how this one is going to end - but that can’t be the narrative in the build-up for Frank and the team.

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To be fair, it wasn’t an awful performance over in Madrid in the first leg last week. Although our famous opponents had most of the ball on their own patch (but then that has been the case with just about every single team who has gone there over the decades) we created a decent amount of chances on the night. Even when we went down to 10 men there were decent opportunities.

Football is a game of ifs and buts sometimes, but if Mason Mount had been able to dink that half- chance over Toni Rudiger’s block in the dying embers of the game then a 2-1 scoreline at the start of the match tonight would have made it look a whole lot more hopeful.

It means we just have to try to score an early goal in this one, easier said than done when we have been struggling to find the net of late, but that must be the aim. A fairly early goal and of course the Bridge will erupt even more than it will have done after the Champions league anthem.

It tells a story

It is obvious that Frank will have to come up with a very special plan, and clearly that plan was already being considered on Saturday with the team selection against Brighton. Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount, N’Golo Kante, Joao Felix, Thiago Silva and Reece James are all likely to start tonight if they are fit. That is more than half a team. The fact that none of them started against Brighton tells the story. Every game is important but some are a few levels above important and Frank knew this on Saturday. Had he started say Reece, N’Golo or Thiago Silva and one had been injured then we would have been devastated at us taking the risk with them.

The Brighton game was more about seeing who could maybe do a job for us tonight and if Frank could lift some of the players that had not been at their best lately. Most would agree it had the right effect on Mykhailo Mudryk who looked livelier, sharper, more direct and more confident than he has for a little while.

It might not have been enough to get him a starting berth for this one, but it certainly brought him into the conversation. This of course will be a game that needs more than 10 or 11 heroes. If we are to overcome Real Madrid and a 2-0 deficit, many from the bench will be needed to step up to the plate too.

Risk and reward

So, what will be the big plan? Should we return to a three at the back, after the back-four at the weekend? Lamps likes using a flat back-four, we know that, but he isn’t averse to changing it as we witnessed in Madrid.

If we are using wing-backs and a back-three, which we all know gets the best from Reece James, then maybe that gives the chance to move Marc Cucurella forward to his more suited left wing-back position. But do you go radical and bring back the experience of Cesar Azpilicueta? Actually, that isn’t too radical since he has played most positions brilliantly for years, be it right or left wing-back, or wide centre-back or full-back either side. Being Spanish and being Azpi, I think he might just be up for this one!

The system is one thing but in reality it is the personnel as much as the tactics that matter. Frank somehow has to find a way of getting us regularly into the opposition box and creating chances. One possibility, and I suspect real temptation, is to try to ‘press’ Real Madrid into mistakes. A high-energy, high-press start would also be high risk but then again it is a regular ploy used in the English game these days.

The Spaniards are fabulous on the break and not bad on the ball either, so if the squeeze up field doesn’t work and they regularly break through it, we could be in trouble. Being accused of naivete would be the least of our problems. It is risky, but then maybe tonight is the night for taking risks because expectations are so limited and the rewards are so high.

Judging when to close down the opposition is the tricky part of this idea but on the positive side, we have some of the best in the business at doing it. Kante is the world leader in this stealing possession but the likes of Mount, Kovacic and Gallagher would relish the opportunity to play on the front foot and get in the faces of the visitors too.

You need energy to play that way so only certain players can do it for long periods, but then again it is noticeable that N’Golo, Mason and Mateo didn’t start on Saturday, so maybe they had to store up those energy reserves to have a go at it tonight.

It is also just that little bit easier to close down space at the Bridge with the smaller pitch size than the Bernabeu. I did the maths and there is just over 300 square yards less ground to cover. Most of that space is lost in the midfield because the 18-yard boxes never change, so maybe this is the first time I have ever really felt happy at having a smaller pitch than some of our rivals.

We might just have to hassle and harry them out of their stride, instead of being the better passing football team for a change. If we allow them too much space, I think we all know the likely outcome.

It is only one possible method that Frank might employ with every other tactical idea having its own risks and weaknesses. Then again, it is the Champions League quarter-final, we are 2-0 down, and now there is no other option. Fortune favours the brave and tonight we must be brave enough to take a chance and take our chances.