A 4-2 humbling at the hands of Manchester City meant the Blues have won only one of their four friendlies under their new manager as familiar teething issues show themselves early in his tenure.
City await in their Premier League opener a little over a week after tonight’s game, which allows for plenty of time for Maresca to get his squad into gear - with another friendly against Inter Milan to come.
In contrast, the clock is ticking on Madrid with this their last game to prepare for the UEFA Super Cup against Atalanta.
Barcelona and AC Milan have both beaten Los Blancos in the United States.
Real Madrid vs Chelsea: When and where?
Real Madrid vs Chelsea is scheduled for a 12am BST kick-off on Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, on August 7, 2024.
The match will take place at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
How to watch Real Madrid vs Chelsea: TV and live stream
TV channel
In the UK, the game will be televised live on Premier Sports 1.
Live stream
Fans can catch the contest live online via the Premier Sports app and website.
Live blog
You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog.
Real Madrid vs Chelsea: Team news
Seven Madrid players are absent from their tour; Fede Valverde, Dani Carvajal, Aurelian Tchouameni, Kylian Mbappe, Eduardo Camavinga, Ferland Mendy and Jude Bellingham. The England star upset Carlo Ancelotti over the weekend by failing to answer his phone when his coach rang - before instantly picking up when Vinicius Jr was ordered to call him.
Vinicius can keep himself in Ancelotti’s good books by making his first start of pre-season against Chelsea, with Rodrygo another option to play amid Endrick’s difficult first summer leading the Real attack.
Filip Jorgensen could make his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt having watched the City defeat on the bench, as did Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall played on the left wing in that game as Maresca continues to experiment with his options, giving Malo Gusto a runout at left-back.
Real Madrid vs Chelsea: Prediction
Neither teams are in much form at this stage of the season and they could cancel each other out while putting more minutes on the clock.
A 1-1 draw.
Real Madrid vs Chelsea: Head-to-head
These teams’ last meeting came in the 2022-23 Champions League quarter-finals and Real won both legs 2-0.
Real Madrid wins: 3
Chelsea wins: 4
Draws: 2
Final thoughts
This friendly between Chelsea and Real Madrid could provide some entertaining moments, but with both sides still in the early stages of pre-season, don't expect a classic. It'll be interesting to see how the new Chelsea players perform under Maresca and if Real Madrid can find a winning formula with their star-studded squad.
