MY ACCOUNT
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel insists he has “no regrets” after his side’s dramatic Champions League quarter-final exit to Real Madrid on Tuesday.
The Blues overturned Madrid’s 3-1 advantage from the first leg last week through goals from Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner, yet Rodrygo’s volley forced the tie into extra time.
Karim Benzema had the final say, heading home six minutes into additional time to seal a 5-4 aggregate victory.
Chelsea became just the second English team to score three goals away against Los Blancos in all European competitions, after Manchester United did so in a 3-3 draw in the European Cup in May 1968.
That was not enough to help the holders into the last four, however, and although Tuchel was proud of his players’ efforts, he lamented their inability to cut out the mistakes over both legs.
“We were unlucky,” he told a media conference. “That is why we are disappointed. We were beaten by individual quality and conversion. We made two mistakes, two ball losses. We deserved to go through after this match today. It was not meant to be.
“We have to reduce our amount of mistakes and we could not reduce them to a minimum over the two legs. We had two crucial ball losses.
“There are no regrets. These are the kind of defeat you can take with pride as a sportsman.
“The players lived up to the plan in a very different way that we did against Brentford and in the first leg.
“We were very disciplined on the ball and very active and invested off the ball. We showed courage and from there we showed our quality. This is the right way to do it. If we have this kind of effort, we are a special team.”
Marcos Alonso saw an effort ruled out by VAR for handball shortly before Werner’s third, and Tuchel was disappointed that referee Szymon Marciniak did not view the incident on the pitchside monitor before the strike was disallowed.
Asked if decisions went against his side, Tuchel said: “Not only today. When you play against Real Madrid, maybe you don’t expect everyone has the courage.
“I felt the little decisions in the first leg and today as well. I didn’t see the goal but I am super disappointed he didn’t come out and check it on his own. You should stay the boss and not give the decisions to someone in a chair and who is isolated.”
Chelsea are next in action on Sunday when they face Crystal Palace in an FA Cup semi-final clash.
