Chelsea star Christian Pulisic has declared Chelsea are keen on beating Real Madrid on Wednesday night after the Blues losing to the Spanish side in the quarter-final stage last year.

“It seems like we have played them every year I have been here so it is a big team, we are excited, have beaten them in the past and are ready for the challenge,” Pulisic says, referring to last season’s quarterfinal defeat.

“It could have gone either way for sure. We want some payback and hopefully beat them. You have to beat some good teams if you want to win the Champions League so we are ready for it. We are a confident team, we know we have good enough players to do some damage in this competition.”

The USA captain also said: “Are we going to have big fights, tough battles and big teams to play against to get there [the Champions League final], yes. We are ready for it and excited for the challenge.

“I wouldn’t want to play Chelsea in the Champions League. We were in a similar situation the last time we won the Champions League, halfway through the year. We were struggling in the league and a lot of people were counting us out. Look what happened then.”