Chelsea came back from Spain with a 1-1 draw and many think this was a great result against a team like Real Madrid, that too away from home.
The Blues did the lead in the match but it was a wonderful goal from Karim Benzema which levelled things for the home side. But, at least, Thomas Tuchel’s men came out of the first leg with that crucial away goal.
The second leg is sure to be a nail biter since Real Madrid now have the onus on them to go out and score at Stamford Bridge, which is something that should please the Chelsea manager. But according to Tuchel, while his side did pull out a wonderful performance on Tuesday night, they should have gone out and won the match.
Tuchel said after the match: ‘We played a very strong first half, we should have won the first half. Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky and lacked composure and precision in the decision making in the opponents box, but we were very strong in the first half. Unfortunately we conceded a goal from a set-piece, otherwise we defended very strong throughout the whole match.
‘I have the feeling that we should have won the first half, that we deserved to win the first half, and that we could have maybe decided this match very early, in the first half-an-hour when we were playing very strong.
‘The second half was a bit of a tactical match and you could feel that we only had two days in-between two away games. Both games were very demanding physically and mentally, so you could feel in the decision making and some ball losses and the acceleration, that we suffered from that today. One more day would have been great for us but it was not like this.
‘Now it’s the challenge to, first of all enjoy a free day for the group, and then forget this result, stay focused on the next challenges, go step-by-step, and next week we have to face another challenge against Real Madrid.
‘It will be a tough one because it is the Champions League semi-final, nothing is sure. Even if we had a win here, everything is possible, it’s half-time, and we will need to fight for every centimetre and every advantage that we want to have.’
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The way Chelsea played the first half, they truly deserved to pick up a win but it was some poor finishing that kept Real Madrid in the game and the home side finally managed to regroup during the half-time break.
Real Madrid could manage only one shot on target whereas Chelsea had five shots during the match. And in all fairness, some of them were worth putting in the back of the net.
Thanks to the draw, the tie now hangs on a knife’s edge and given the firepower Real Madrid have in their attacking departments, Thomas Tuchel is bound to have some sleepless nights.
