The Blues picked up an away goal but could ultimately regret not being better in front of the net during a dominant opening 20 minutes
Thomas Tuchel was left disappointed by Chelsea’s 1-1 result in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Despite praising his men’s “courage” to begin brightly at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium, the German manager insisted the Blues could have scored far more than Christian Pulisic’s opener given the pressure they applied in the early going.
Timo Werner was responsible for the most frustrating missed chance when he shot right at goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois from close range in the first 10 minutes. Tuchel said Chelsea could have wrapped up the match and perhaps even the entire semi-final tie during the first half hour.
What was said?
“We started the game very very well, with a lot of courage and quality,” Chelsea boss Tuchel told BT Sport. “We deserved to win the first half, we had chances. Unfortunately they scored from a set-piece and they had nothing else, we didn’t allow any chances.
“It was a disappointing score at half-time. We had to stay calm and not lose confidence. The second half was very tactical, you could feel that we are a bit tired. We only had a few days to recover from another tough away game. We have to live with 1-1.
“The goal was well deserved and we should have scored at least one more.”
One shot on target, one goal
Real Madrid put just one shot on target compared to the five Chelsea produced. However, that lone strike for the hosts served as the equaliser, with Karim Benzema volleying past Edouard Mendy.
Against a side with the talent of Los Blancos, Tuchel explained, building a multiple-goal advantage is crucial to avoid crushing concessions against the run of play. Indeed, Chelsea paid for their wastefulness on Tuesday.
“We conceded more or less out of nothing and that can always happen against individual quality,” said the manager.
He added to BBC Radio 5: “I have a feeling we should have won the first half and that we deserved to win the first half and we could have perhaps decided this game in the first half an hour when we were playing so strong.”
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