We conclude our series looking ahead to each fixture on our USA Tour by previewing a blockbuster showdown in Charlotte…

There is no sterner test in European football right now than the one posed by Real Madrid.

After victory at Wembley in June, the Spanish giants have now won the Champions League in two of the past three seasons, and six of the last 11. They stand proudly atop the summit of the club game.

So what finer way for Enzo Maresca and his players to finish our 2024 USA Tour than by taking on Carlo Ancelotti’s Real? We’re in for a treat!

It could well be one of Kylian Mbappe’s first games for Real and there will be a reprisal of the fascinating battle between Vinicius Junior and Reece James we have witnessed in the Champions League.

As well as Ancelotti, there will be a reunion with former Blues Toni Rudiger and Thibaut Courtois, and after so many years not drawing Real Madrid in European competition, the fixture now has a pleasingly familiar feel to it.

We triumphed in the Cup Winners’ Cup of 1971 and the Super Cup in 1998, collecting silverware in the process, but despite both teams’ prominence in the Champions League in the 2000s, it wouldn’t be until 2021 that we were drawn together.

In that semi-final tie, played behind closed doors due to the pandemic, the Blues emerged impressive 3-1 winners on aggregate to advance to the final in Porto. We all know how that ended!

Real Madrid got the upper hand in the quarter-finals of 2022 – just – and 2023, and now the capital clubs reconvene in Charlotte, North Carolina. It will be our third fixture at the Bank of America stadium after games against PSG in 2015 and local team Charlotte FC, two years ago, both ending in Chelsea victories.

We will aim to make it a threepeat against the best of them all on Tuesday 6 August. What a way that would be to return to England ahead of our final friendly, against Inter Milan at the Bridge, and then the start of the Premier League campaign!

Chelsea’s 2024 USA Tour

Chelsea vs Real Madrid – Tuesday 6 August at Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina – click for tickets or buy Club Chelsea hospitality packages now