Real Madrid vs Chelsea: Thomas Tuchel criticises referee for laughing with Real boss Carlo Ancelotti

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel did not hold his words back when expressing his disappointment while seeing the referee laughing with Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti at full-time. The Blues had gone 3-0 up at one stage in the match and were on the verge of reaching the semifinals before the home side hit two late goals. First, Rodrygo equalised in regulation time to take the match into extra-time before Karim Benzema’s header broke Chelsea fans’ hearts in the additional 30 minutes. It means that Madrid will face one of Manchester City or Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semifinal while Chelsea head home with their heads held high. 

Tuchel was initially fuming with a decision made by the VAR to rule out a second-half goal when Marcos Alonso was adjudged to have handled the ball before scoring it. What frustrated Tuchel more was that the referee Szymon Marciniak ruled the goal out without even checking the VAR monitor. However, the German was most unhappy when seeing the referee laughing with Ancelotti after full-time.

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This is the very wrong time to do this: Tuchel

“I was disappointed that the referee had a good time with Carlo,” said Tuchel after the match. “When I wanted to go and say thank you, he was smiling and laughing with the opponent’s coach. I think this is the very wrong time to do this after the final whistle, 126 minutes of a team giving their heart. When you go and see a referee smiling and laughing with the other coach, it’s bad timing. I told him this.”

“[It’s] not only today. When you play against Real Madrid, maybe you don’t expect everyone has the courage. I felt the little decisions in the first leg and today as well. I didn’t see the goal but I am super disappointed he didn’t come out and check it on it’s own. You should stay the boss and not give the decisions to someone in a chair and who is isolated.”

Despite getting knocked out in such a heartbreaking fashion, Tuchel was happy with his team’s overall performance on the night. He praised his players for giving their all at Santiago Bernabeu. “These are the kind of defeats we can digest and swallow,” he added. “We left nothing to regret out there. We played what we wanted to play, with the quality and the character this team has. We deserved to go through, we were simply unlucky and it wasn’t to be.

“The most important thing is how we play and the input from the players. The full credit is for the players, you need to score and win and to do it over the 90 mins. We were unlucky not to go through.”