Blues manager turns on players, saying they have no chance to qualifying for semis
\n LONDON
\nThomas Tuchel turned on Chelsea\u2019s players as the Blues boss let his frustration pour out after their dismal 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
\nTuchel\u2019s side are facing the end of their reign as Champions League holders following a bitter night at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
\nKarim Benzema\u2019s hat-trick, comprising two masterful headers and a ruthless finish after Edouard Mendy\u2019s howler, left Tuchel conceding Chelsea have no chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
\nAsked if the tie was still winnable, Tuchel replied: \u201cNo. Not at the moment, no.
\n\u201cBecause we have to find our level back, I don\u2019t know where it is since the international break.
\n\u201cIf things change, maybe, but how many clubs in worldwide football could do what we need, three goals difference? How often does this happen?\u201d
\nTuchel\u2019s blunt admission laid bare his anger at Chelsea\u2019s defensive miscues, wayward finishing and abject failure to match Real\u2019s energy.
\nThe spluttering performance was completely unrecognisable from Chelsea\u2019s dynamic run to the Champions League title last season and, more recently, their six-game winning streak before the March international break.
\nComing just five days after a humiliating 4-1 home defeat against Brentford in the Premier League — the first time they had lost to their west London neighbours since 1939 — the capitulation against Real was too much for Tuchel to take. He barely had time to sit down for his post-match press conference before he let rip at his players.
\n\u201cIt was one of the worst first halves that I saw from us here at Stamford Bridge. It\u2019s very disappointing,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cWe lost shape and sharpness. I don\u2019t really have an explanation. Before the international break we had a long winning streak and were very competitive.
\n\u201cWe can speak about the same defensive performance from five days ago. It is seven goals conceded. It\u2019s alarming. Nothing has changed in our approach.\u201d
\nIt was especially notable that Tuchel was so willing to publicly lambast his stars because he rarely shows displeasure with them in his media briefings.
\nHaving led Chelsea to European and Club World Cup glory in his first year in charge, Tuchel is facing the first real on-pitch crisis of his reign.
\nHe was adamant that the on-going sale of Chelsea, forced by the British government\u2019s sanctions of the club\u2019s Russian owner Roman Abramovich following the invasion of Ukraine, was not a distraction, or at least not one that he was willing to accept as an excuse from his players.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a deeper reason for it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were so far off our level of everything the game demands, tactically, shape, stiffness, in challenges.\u201d
\nTuchel took responsibility for the tactical set-up that allowed Benzema and Vinicius Junior to terrorise Andreas Christensen on the right side of Chelsea\u2019s defence.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s on all of us, I\u2019m included in this. For the situation on the flank with Christensen, it was my mistake,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t have really explanation because we have fallen from being very competitive.\u201d
\nNothing encapsulated Chelsea\u2019s night to forget better than the late chance missed by Romelu Lukaku, whose woeful header underlined why Tuchel had preferred to start with Kai Havertz.
\nHavertz had scored before half-time with a clinical header, giving them hope before Mendy and Antonio Rudiger combined to gift Benzema the third goal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Blues manager turns on players, saying they have no chance to qualifying for semis LONDON Thomas Tuchel turned on Chelsea\u2019s players as the Blues boss let his frustration pour out after their dismal 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg. Tuchel\u2019s side are facing the end of their reign as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n