Lukaku is out for the crucial Champions League 2nd leg against Real Madrid but is it really ‘advantage Chelsea’?

Romelu Lukaku is set to miss Chelsea’s second leg clash with Real Madrid on Tuesday after the club confirmed that the Belgian striker is injured.

Chelsea fans on Twitter seem to take this as good news, with many believing Lukaku’s unavailability gives the Blues an advantage for the game against Los Blancos.

Chelsea will be looking to overhaul a two-goal deficit at the Bernabeu following the 3-1 loss at home to Real Madrid.

One would think the team could use its £100 million as they look to pull an unlikely comeback but the Chelsea fans are celebrating his absence instead.

In all fairness, Lukaku’s move to Chelsea from Inter Milan last summer for just shy of a £100 million has not quite worked out as expected.

The big Belgian has only scored 12 goals in 36 appearances across all competitions this season and also made some unsavoury comments a while back which alienated him from the Chelsea fans.

An underperforming big-money signing, talking bad about the club publicly, it’s fair to say Lukaku had this coming, it’s clear to see why the Chelsea fans don’t like him.

Even the manager, Thomas Tuchel doesn’t seem to fancy him that much, Lukaku has only started twice in the last 10 Chelsea games and both were in the FA Cup.

By that trend, Lukaku would most likely have started on the bench at the Bernabeu if he had been available, especially with Kai Havertz in good form right now.

But with all that said, Romelu Lukaku’s injury is a big disadvantage to Chelsea and this is a fact even if the fans don’t want to admit it.

Chelsea are in a situation where they need at least two goals to stay in the tie and three to qualify (without conceding), losing a striker like Lukaku even in his bad form is a disadvantage.

Granted, he is unlikely to start this game but his presence on the bench would have given Chelsea the edge in that regard as Real Madrid are not so strong offensively outside of their starting 11.

Lukaku has not been playing well but he is still capable of causing problems for opponents, especially in aerial situations. His physicality off the bench could also have been a problem for the tiring Real Madrid defence in the second half but they no longer have that now.

Lukaku’s presence could have given Tuchel an opportunity for a tactical switch in the second half which we have already seen this season.

Both games against Aston Villa are prime examples of the tactical flexibility Chelsea has when Lukaku plays.

That’s not to say that Chelsea are doomed to lose now that he is injured though after all Tuchel knocked Real Madrid out without Lukaku last season, he can do it again.

The point of this is, Real Madrid would certainly rather face Chelsea without Lukaku (either from the start or on the bench) than with him.