Chelsea vs Real Madrid: Ancelotti tests negative for Covid-19, en route to rejoin squad

Real Madrid CF has announced that manager Carlo Ancelotti has finally tested negative for Covid-19. As such, the Italian will be travelling to London on Wednesday morning and is expected to make it in time for the club's UEFA Champions League quarter-final clash against Chelsea FC at Stamford bridge just hours later.

Ancelotti tested positive for Covid-19 early last week, and immediately isolated in order to prevent further infections. The international break bought him some time to complete his quarantine period, but he still had to miss Los Blancos' La Liga match against Celta Vigo on Saturday night. In his place, his son and long-time assistant Davide Ancelotti took charge.

It is believed that Carlo still made the decisions on the starting lineup against Celta Vigo. During the match itself, Davide could be seen with a bluetooth earpiece presumably to stay in constant contact with the older Ancelotti.

Real Madrid secured a 2-1 victory in a controversial match that saw them being awarded 3 penalties. In the end, Davide should be proud of himself for holding down the fort and maintaining the club's comfortable lead at the top of the table.

Now, Ancelotti senior is back to take the helm at the all-important first leg of the Champions League rematch against Chelsea. There is an added pressure for Los Blancos to win the first leg, especially after how they were completely outplayed by the Blues in the semi-finals last season.

Chelsea are the defending champions, and will be coming in with a moral advantage. The Premier League side are the strong favourites, but Real Madrid want to make sure that they remain in contention in order to finish things off in the return leg at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The away rule advantage has been eliminated for this season, making the fight even tighter across the two legs.