Tuchel says Chelsea must perform at top level to overturn Madrid deficit
Considering the 16 highly eventful months that Thomas Tuchel has overseen at Chelsea, perhaps it should be no surprise that on the eve of their visit to the Bernabéu he allowed himself a moment to dream.
From fatalist to fantasist in a week, Tuchel takes his team to face the rampant Real Madrid with a two-goal deficit to recover and a glimmer of belief, heavily layered with realism, replacing those fears of a “hammering”.
For a man who transformed Chelsea into European champions within four months, and then saw the club’s gilded foundations fall away when sanctions were placed on their owner, Roman Abramovich, surely the prospect of a 2-0 win in Madrid is not beyond the realms of possibility. It may be football’s Everest, but it would be a fitting chapter in Tuchel’s tenure.
“We need nothing else than a fantastic script if we want to be able to overcome this,” the Chelsea head coach said, before tonight’s Champions League quarter-final second leg.
“The challenge is incredibly high given the circumstances of the first leg and where we play and against whom we play. It’s always allowed to dream, but it will not shift the focus from the fact that we need to deliver and be ready.
“It’s worth trying in sport. It’s a beauty of the game that everything is possible, always. We will try everything and from there we see.
Hopefully, belief grows within the match by our actions and we can fulfil our dream. But, realistically, we have to invest a lot and be at our very top level.”
Perhaps Tuchel’s intention of declaring the tie dead on Wednesday, after Chelsea had been beaten 3-1 by Real and the deadly Karim Benzema at Stamford Bridge, was to relieve his players of pressure.
Saturday’s 6-0 win away to Southampton will have bolstered belief in the Chelsea ranks, even if Carlo Ancelotti is certain not to allow them the freedom of Madrid, as Ralph Hasenhüttl offered at St Mary’s.
It will be an entirely different opponent and stage, but Tuchel will hope for a similar performance. Andreas Christensen and N’Golo Kanté, hooked at half-time against Real, returned to their best against Southampton. But Benzema, the beautiful bully at the Bridge, and the electric Vinícius Júnior are going to offer both Chelsea players many more problems, while Luka Modric pulled Tuchel’s side apart in the first leg.
“We need to learn from last week’s game,” Tuchel, 48, told The Times. “That is the beauty of the competition at this stage, you have two matches in very short notice, so you can learn from those games and use pictures and moments and situations from the first leg.”
Tuchel asked last week how many times a team had overturned such a deficit. The answer may explain his initial pessimism: of the 64 teams to have lost the opening leg of a European tie 3-1 at home in the past 30 years, only two teams advanced, both in the Uefa Cup. It has never been done in the Champions League, and no English side have won by more than one goal at the Bernabéu.
However, the away-goals rule has been discarded this season, which makes the climb appear less steep, while stories of revivals were being shared by the Chelsea players.
“There are many comebacks, and I was involved in one,” Mateo Kovacic, the Chelsea midfielder, formerly of Real, said. “In the 2015-16 season, we [Madrid] were 2-0 down in Wolfsburg [in the quarter-finals] and we came to the Bernabéu. And the team won 3-0.
“I also saw the other day the game with Chelsea against Napoli [in the round of 16 in 2012]. They lost 3-1 at Napoli and came back at Stamford Bridge. Football is always surprising but we need to be ready to give 100 per cent to be able to do a comeback.”
Chelsea do have experience of coming to Madrid and leaving with a result. Less than a year ago Tuchel’s team earned a draw against Real in the semi-final first leg, helping them on the road to the final, and eventual victory.
“Can it be more different?” Tuchel asked, as Chelsea benefited from playing at the modest Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, behind closed doors, last year, while the Bernabéu was being redeveloped.
“It is one of the biggest challenges to perform as the away team at the Bernabéu, and it is even more difficult if you have to earn a certain result,” Tuchel said. “If you need to win with a minimum of two goals, or even a three-goal difference, then it makes it almost impossible.
“But it’s still worth trying and it is still a stage where you can also overperform. You need to overperform. It’s not easy, the opposite, but at the same time it’s a big experience.”
Tuchel and Chelsea have had plenty of those in the past year. The latest chapter in their script waits to be written.
