Tuchel insists has 'no regrets' after their Champions League exit

Thomas Tuchel insists Chelsea can take Real Madrid defeat with ‘pride’ and they ‘deserved to go through’… as he FUMES at Polish referee for ‘laughing and smiling’ with Carlo Ancelotti at full-time

  • Chelsea crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday after losing to Madrid
  • Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has said he proud of his side despite their loss
  • Tuchel said his side played a ‘fantastic game’, which ended 3-2 in Madrid’s favour
  • Karim Benzema scored an extra-time winner to secure Real Madrid’s future 
  • The Real Madrid star scored a hat-trick in last week’s Champions League first leg 

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has said he is ‘very proud’ of his side despite the fact they crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday evening.

Chelsea, trailing 3-1 from the first-leg, were just 10 minutes away from pulling off a sensational miracle in Madrid after forcing their way into a 3-0 lead. 

But Real sub Rodrygo made it 3-1 with his first meaningful touch to take the game to extra-time and Benzema, Madrid’s hat-trick hero at Stamford Bridge, had the decisive say in the rollercoaster return with a 96th minute header to send the La Liga leaders through 5-4 on aggregate.

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has ‘no regrets’ after his side’s Champions League exit

With the odds stacked against them Chelsea produced a heroic performance to outclass Madrid on their own patch for most of the night.

But they were left to rue the controversial decision to rule out Marcos Alonso’s goal and two mistakes, when they gifted their hosts possession, that preceded Madrid’s goals.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said: ‘We are very disappointed and very proud at the same time because we played a fantastic match.

‘In the end we were unlucky. We deserved to go through after this performance and match today but it was not meant to be. You need luck in games like this and it was not on our side.

‘Over both legs and for sure today we deserved to go through. Unlucky but there are no regrets. These are the kind of defeats that you can take with pride. You accept as a sportsman.’

Goals from Mount and Antonio Rudiger early in each half put Chelsea level on aggregate

Benzema headed home the winner in extra-time to take his side through to the semi-finals

Goals from Mason Mount and Antonio Rudiger early in each half put Chelsea level on aggregate. Alonso then thought he had put Chelsea ahead only to see his goal chalked off by VAR rather than referee Szymon Marciniak.

Tuchel said: ‘I did not see the goal but I’m super disappointed that he did not come back to check it and in a match like this you should stay the boss and not give decisions to someone in a chair who is isolated from the atmosphere and from the way the referee has a certain style and the things he allows and does not allow.’

Timo Werner then did put Chelsea 3-0 before Luka Modric set up Rodrygo’s equaliser and Benzema struck in extra time.

Tuchel said: ‘We scored four goals, had big chances to score even more. We were unlucky that’s why we’re disappointed. We got beaten by pure individual quality and offensive conversion of our mistakes. Unfortunately we had two mistakes after ball wins, the most crucial moments in games against Real Madrid.

‘They did not create a lot at Stamford Bridge but took every half chance and converted it. This was enough so you have to reduce your amount of mistakes and we could not reduce it to an absolute minimum over two legs that’s why the deficit was so high and when you come here and play a match like this and after the ball win we have two crucial ball losses that are maybe against very teams is a goal but with Real Madrid it’s possible.’

As a result, Real Madrid progressed while Chelsea were dumped out of the Champions League 

Nevertheless, Tuchel said he was ‘very proud’ of his team as they played a ‘fantastic match’

Rudiger said: The positive is we didn’t give up. Not many teams can come here and dominate them. But if you make these kinds of mistakes you get punished. Our gameplan was to find our No 10s in the space. We got the goal, we controlled the game and did it quite well. In the second half, scored goals, did everything we could.

Real will now face either city rivals Atletico or Manchester City in the semi-finals and Modric said:

‘Unbelievable to describe this game. We were dead until the goal we scored. Chelsea scored three goals, maybe the first a bit lucky from a deflection. I can’t say we played badly. They used their chances well and scored the goals. We didn’t give up. We kept believing, fighting and in the end showed huge character.

‘This stadium and the fans were very helpful when we were losing 3-0. They kept supporting us and it gave us a boost to keep believing. In the end we showed great character, desire and togetherness to manage to turn it around. A defeat that is very sweet.’




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