Chelsea play Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday, before facing them again three weeks later in Istanbul.
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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has hailed his players following a 2-0 triumph in the second leg of the semi-finals of the ongoing edition of the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid. The English club eventually progressed with a 3-1 win on aggregate. The victory sets up the English giants for a second cup final this month. It further means they join Chelsea Women in earning a place in their respective Champions League showpiece in 2020/21, ensuring the club is the first to have finalists in both in the same year.
“I never saw a change in body language, we stayed positive and brave. Again we managed to have a clean sheet and again it was well-deserved with a strong goalkeeper and guys who were really committed to defend and we wanted it badly, and that is the key,” said Tuchel as quoted by the official website of the English giants.
Timo Werner scored the first goal for Chelsea in the first half, with Mason Mount getting the job done and dusted with a late finish. However, the players missed a lot of chances which if taken advantage of, could have resulted in the tie being put to bed sooner.
Tuchel admitted that he started getting negative vibes about the final result during the second half when Chelsea missed several chances, though the players still looked confident.
“Any chance that you don’t take and you miss, you know you play on the edge because Real Madrid can hurt you any second out of absolutely nothing, by pure individual quality,” he said.
“So to hang in there, to continue with positive body language, to hang in there physically and with the mental attitude like today, to stay active, to never stop trying to play for the second goal, never allowing Real Madrid to push us deep and create chances, this is really huge. So I am absolutely delighted with this spirit and big credit and big congratulations to the team,” added Tuchel.
The former Paris St Germain manager termed the performance as an “energetic” one, with hunger and positivity.
“It was another energetic performance, full of positive attitude, full of hunger, and what spirit we showed in moments when we needed to suffer in the first half, and what a reaction in the second half. The heads were never down, the heads were always up even after the big chances we missed. We always stayed positive and we never regretted some things, so it was fantastic.” he concluded.
