Chelsea will travel to Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-final. Los Blancos are in a comfortable 3-1 lead in the first leg in London, thanks to a hat-trick by Karim Benzema. Kai Havertz got one back for the Blues to have some hope heading into the second leg.
Chelsea are coming into this game on the back of a massive 6-0 away win over Southampton in the Premier League at the weekend. The defending European champions will have to do a lot to turn the situation around in Madrid.
Real Madrid are flying domestically this season, with a double figure advantage (12 points) over the chasing pack in La Liga. Karim Benzema scored a hat-trick in their second leg against Paris Saint Germain at the Bernabeu in the last 16.
Tuchel said that the team needed a fantastic script and needed to overperform in order to overcome Real Madrid and turn the situation around.
“We need nothing else than a fantastic script if we want to overcome it. The task is incredibly high given the circumstances, where we play, who we play, at what stage. We are always allowed to dream. It is important to imagine, to dream about it. We need to overperform. It is a big experience to learn from and maybe to take and overperform,” he said on Chelsea’s official YouTube channel.
‘NOT THE BIGGEST CHANCE’
Thomas Tuchel said that Chelsea do not have the biggest chance against Real Madrid, but the team will try.
“Not the biggest chance. We never manage our input, effort, belief by the chance. We never did and we will not start tomorrow by giving less because it is very unlikely we make it. It’s worth trying. We will try,” he said.
Most of Europe’s top five leagues have five substitutions, but the Premier League has just three. Tuchel pointed out that the Los Blancos were physically better as they could rest more players.
“First of all, we wanted more physical. We did not work hard enough. We faced a huge disadvantage in terms of physicality. Real Madrid had a whole year with five changes [substitution]. It is not always easy. We are a team who need the sharpness to be physical. We could not do that due to their quality to slow the game down in ball possession,” he said.
“Hopefully we have a match where belief grows. Hopefully we can fulfil our dream, live up to our dream. We have to invest a lot and live up to our level,” he added.
Chelsea beat Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League last season, eventually winning it by beating Manchester City. Tuchel pointed out that the team struggled in counter pressing, and will try to solve that problem.
“We had last season in an empty Stamford Bridge, a very intense match. We lost ball possession too then. That is not the statistic to say we do not have an intense game. We struggled in counter-pressing. Can we do it now? Let’s see. The game is different,” he said.
Carlo Ancelotti’s men have scored at least two goals in each of their previous three UCL games at the Bernabeu. Chelsea’s win at the St. Mary’s at the weekend was their 7th away win in all competitions, and they’ve only failed to score once in their last 15 away Champions League games.
“You can learn from the last game and use situations and moments from the last game. This is what we will use,” he said.
Thomas Tuchel gave team news ahead of the clash against Real Madrid.