Thomas Tuchel has written off Chelsea’s hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League and claimed his team will get “hammered” at the Bernabeu next week if they repeat their performance from the quarter-final first-leg defeat to Real Madrid.
Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick in Madrid’s 3-1 victory at Stamford Bridge and, despite the fact Kai Havertz scored for his side and substitute Romelu Lukaku missed a great chance, Tuchel believes the tie is effectively over.
Asked if the tie was still alive with his team needing to score at least three goals in Spain next week, Tuchel replied: “No, the tie is not alive. Not at the moment. If we keep playing like this we will lose at Southampton and then we will get hammered at the Bernabeu.”
Just four days after Chelsea had also been thrashed 4-1 by Brentford, Tuchel added: “We have to find our level. I don’t know where it has gone since the international break. The first half [against Madrid] was a repetition of the performance against Brentford. We were so far off our level.
“We have to get things ready for Saturday and don’t think about the Bernabeu. If we play like this then we will not get a point.”
Given the opportunity to review his assessment that the tie is not alive and asked if it sent the wrong message to his players, Tuchel doubled down by saying: “I worry more about Southampton than Real Madrid. Is the tie alive today after this performance? No, because if we don’t get it right against Southampton we will not win the tie so it’s not alive.
“We need three goals and how often did this happen? So let’s be honest, let’s be realistic. We are competitive and need to find our competitive spirit, and then we can talk.”
‘The result is on all of us… including me’
Tuchel dragged off Andres Christensen and N’Golo Kante at half-time, and the German conceded that it was not only the Chelsea players who had to shoulder the blame for the performance and the result.
“It was never on one player or two players, it’s on all of us,” said Tuchel. “I’m included in this. Individually, we lost shape and lost sharpness and, obviously, since the national break we don’t look the same.
“In five days, it’s seven goals conceded, we did not change nothing not in the approach or the line-up. I don’t think there was a deeper reason for it. It is alarming because in two games seven goals, but nothing has changed.”
