Tuchel’s Chelsea face the end of their Champions League campaign after a bitter night at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday
Tuchel’s Chelsea face the end of their Champions League campaign after a bitter night at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday
Thomas Tuchel turns to Chelsea players as the Blues boss expresses his disappointment after a disappointing 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.
Tuchel’s side are facing the end of their reign as Champions League holders after a bitter night at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
Karim Benzema’s hat-trick, which included two brilliant headers and a ruthless finish after Edouard Mendy’s howler, left Tuchel thinking Chelsea had no chance of reaching the semi-finals.
Asked if the tie was still winnable, Tuchel replied: “No. Not at the moment, no. Because we have to find our level back, I don’t know where it is since the international break. If things go wrong.” Varies, maybe, but how many clubs in football around the world can do what we need, three goal difference? At what regular intervals does this happen?”
Tuchel’s blunt confession exposed his anger at Chelsea’s defensive antics, wayward finishing and blatant failure to match Real’s energy.
From Chelsea’s dynamic run to the Champions League title last season to their six-game winning streak before the March international break, the stellar performances were completely unrecognizable.
Coming only five days after a 4-1 home loss against Brentford in the Premier League – the first time they had lost to their west London neighbors since 1939 – Tuchel’s dedication against Real was enormous.
He barely had time to sit down for the post-match press conference before reprimanding his players.
“It was one of the worst first stops I’ve seen here at Stamford Bridge. It’s very disappointing,” he said.
“We lost shape and sharpness. I really don’t have an explanation. We had a long winning streak before the international break and were very competitive.
“We can talk about the same defensive performance from five days ago. Seven goals conceded in this. This is worrisome. Nothing has changed in our approach.”
“out of our level”
It was particularly noteworthy that Tuchel was prepared to publicly lash out at his stars as he rarely showed displeasure with them in his media briefings.
After leading Chelsea to European and Club World Cup glory in his first year in charge, Tuchel is facing the first real on-pitch crisis of his reign.
He was adamant that the ongoing sale of Chelsea, due to the British government’s sanctions to the club’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich following the invasion of Ukraine, was not a distraction, or at least not something he used as an excuse. was ready to accept. from his players.
“I don’t think there is any deep reason for this,” he said. “We were far beyond our level of finesse, size, rigor, everything the game demanded in the challenges.”
Tuchel took responsibility for the tactical set-up that allowed Benzema and Vinicius Jr. to terrorize Andreas Christensen on the right side of Chelsea’s defence.
“It is on all of us, I included. As for the situation with Christensen, it was my fault,” he said.
“I don’t really have [an] Explanation because we have fallen from being too competitive.”
Nothing understood Chelsea’s night better than a late chance missed by Romelu Lukaku, whose sad header underlined why Tuchel had chosen to start with Kai Havertz.
Havertz scored before half-time with a clinical header, hoping to gift Benzema a third goal before Mendy and Antonio Rudiger combined.
The worry for Tuchel is that even Chelsea’s place in the top four of the Premier League is not certain if they remain in their current form.
“I worry more about Southampton on Saturday than Real Madrid on Tuesday,” Tuchel said.
“If we do not keep our heads and legs straight and our mindset is not right, we will not win. And then this tie doesn’t survive.”