Chelsea play Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night, so we simulated the must-win game for the Blues to predict the final score.
Chelsea must beat Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League Round of 16 second-leg clash when they host the German side on Tuesday night.
A Karim Adeyemi goal was all that separated the two sides in the fist-leg in Germany, meaning Chelsea enter Tuesday's clash 1-0 down on aggregate and needing a win to keep their Champions League hopes alive. After a poor run of form in recent months, the Blues enter the clash on the back of a 1-0 win over Leeds, lifting the spirits of Graham Potter's side before their Champions League clash.
The last time Chelsea failed to get past the Round of 16 in the Champions League was in the 2019/20 season, losing 7-1 to Bayern Munich on aggregate. Reece James is set to return to the Blues squad after missing the Leeds game with a knock, giving Potter a big boost ahead of Tuesday night.
So, can Chelsea come from behind to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals? We simulated the game to get a score prediction and this is what happened.
To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions
We predict that the Blues could line up in a 3-4-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Kepa; Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; James, Fernandez, Kovacic, Chilwell; Sterling, Havertz, Felix.
We predict that the visitors could set up in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with their line-up as follows: Kobel; Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Can; Brandt, Bellingham, Ozcan, Reus; Haller.
As expected, the Blues started the game on the front foot, with Potter's side looking to overcome the goal deficit and find a goal early on. But, Dortmund made the task twice as hard for the Blues, opening the scoring after 23 minutes with their first shot on target.
Julian Brandt cut in from the right before finding Jude Bellingham, and the midfielder opened up space for a shot on goal after dropping his shoulder to get away from Marc Cucurella. On his right foot, the Englishman drilled a powerful strike across goal, fizzing into the bottom corner to put the visitors 2-0 up on aggregate.
The pressure continued from Chelsea, but Kai Havertz and Reece James both missed glorious chances to draw level with poor misses from close range. Mykhailo Mudryk and Hakim Ziyech were both introduced for the final 30 minutes, and the duo combined to draw the game level on the night.
As Chelsea hit Dortmund on the break, a through ball from Ziyech found Mudryk who used his pace to speed towards goal. One-on-one with the 'keeper, the winger did well to drill a shot into the far corner and give the Blues hope.
Havertz was guilty of missing two more big chances for Chelsea, but the biggest opportunity fell the way of Ziyech in the 91st minute. The Moroccan capitalised on a defensive error from the visitors to surge through on goal, but one-on-one, the forward took a heavy touch into the hands of the 'keeper, and Dortmund won the tie on aggregate.
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 23 predicts that despite their best efforts, some lacklustre finishing saw Chelsea draw 1-1 in the simulation, a result that would knock them out of the Champions League. Reece James, Kai Havertz and Hakim Ziyech were all guilty of missed chances, but bar a wondergoal from Jude Bellingham, the Blues were solid at the back.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!