Champions League: Chelsea coach, Tuchel Drums For Support against Real Madrid says Winning is an Incredibly High Task
Champions League defending champions, Chelsea have a mountain to climb on Tuesday when they travel to Spain for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie with Real Madrid.
THECONSCIENCENG reports that Karim Benzema’s brilliant hat-trick condemned the English team to a first leg loss at Stamford Bridge and they now face an uphill task of scoring two or more unreplied goals to stand any chance of defending their title.
Last season, both sides met in the semi-final stage and Chelsea won 3-1 on aggregate. The tie away to Madrid ended in a 1-1 draw.
“We need nothing else than a fantastic script if we want to be able to overcome this task that is incredibly high”, Tuchel said in a pre-game presser.
“The challenge is incredibly high given the circumstances of the first leg, and where we play [now], and against who we play and at what stage we play this kind of match.
“It is always allowed to dream. Sometimes it is important to imagine things, to dream about it, but it will not shift the focus from the fact that we need to deliver and we need to be ready tomorrow.
“We will support our team and we will try hard.”
Chelsea returned to winning at the weekend, putting six goals past Southampton after a two forgettable home games where they conceded seven goals in total and scoring just two.
Madrid will come into the game on the back of a 2-0 league victory over Getafe on Saturday.
Team News
Tuchel confirmed that Cesar Azpilicueta will be part of the Chelsea squad to face Real Madrid tomorrow evening but Romelu Lukaku will not travel.
The skipper is fine to return to the squad following several negative tests for Covid-19 but Belgian striker Lukaku will stay behind for treatment on a sore achilles.
Tuchel also confirmed at his pre-match press conference that Callum Hudson-Odoi remains sidelined and will be joined by Ross Barkley, who misses out through illness.
Real is expected to have key players available for the game.
