Chelsea Head Coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he prefer to face Real Madrid rather than Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals after Chelsea reached the last four for the first time since 2014.
The London giants were beaten by Porto yesterday in the home leg of their quarter-final in Seville with Mehdi Taremi’s scoring a stunning injury time overhead kick for Sergio Conceicao’s side.
However Tuchel’s side had done the hard work in the first leg, winning 2-0 in the away game which was also staged in Seville to render Porto’s late goal irrelevant.
The Blues will now face a team that will proceed from either Real Madrid or Liverpool in today’s second leg match at Anfield in England.
Real Madrid is leading with a 3-1 goal aggregate and Liverpool is expected to beat the Spaniards 2-0 for them to secure their place in semi finals.
In Addition, Thomas Tuchel said he doesn’t want to play Liverpool in the Semi Finals because they are both teams of the same league while mentioning that he will watch Liverpool against Madrid clash tonight.
“In general I like not to play against teams from your same league in the Champions League as it gives more of a feeling of a European competition but that is the only thing. The game is far from over but I will watch it for sure.” said Tuchel.
The former PSG Head Coach also said it is hard to predict the results between Liverpool and Real Madrid until the match is played insisting that Juegen Klopp’s side have a good home record.
“Everything is possible. Liverpool are very strong at home so we take what we get. It is a good situation for us.” he said.
The 47 year old hailed Chelsea’s progress as a great achievement and a great step to qualify for the semi finals.
“The semi-finals is a big achievement. It’s a big step to be in the semi-final. We’re not used to being there but once you are there you play for the final.” he added.
Meanwhile the French League Cup Winner admitted that the match was not spectacle adding that Chelsea produced a professional display to keep Porto at arms’ length until it was too late for them to mount a comeback that took the game to extra time.
More so Thomas Tuchel expressed that Chelsea tactics to frustrate Porto yielded results as his side managed to secure a place in the semi finals despite having young and unexperienced players in the UCL competition .
“It is also part of the performance to not let your opponent perform. Today was the day to hang in and show all the effort, all the intensity, all the team spirit, that’s needed if you don’t have the experience, if you have a young team, it’s the moment to be together .We talked about what we needed to do if you feel nervous and that is to use your body, work hard and make yourself sweat. This is what we did. said Tuchel.
Chelsea will face Real Madrid or Liverpool in the semi finals on a date to be scheduled.
Nevertheless today at 2100 Liverpool will host Real Madrid at Anfield in England while the 5th placed Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund will host Manchester City.
