THOMAS TUCHEL is standing by Timo Werner despite admitting his star striker suffered another stinker. Christian Pulisic’s precious away goal puts Chelsea in command of their Champions League semi final against Real Madrid. But boss Tuchel reckons it could have been even better had it not been for missed chances to put the first-leg to […]
THOMAS TUCHEL is standing by Timo Werner despite admitting his star striker suffered another stinker.
Christian Pulisic’s precious away goal puts Chelsea in command of their Champions League semi final against Real Madrid.
But boss Tuchel reckons it could have been even better had it not been for missed chances to put the first-leg to bed – with £47million Werner guilty of a second horrendous miss in successive games.
Tuchel said: “He missed a big one at West Ham and missed another one here that doesn’t help.
“But it also does not help to cry about it, or to regret it all the time.
“It is like this. There are millions of people who have harder things to deal with than chances you miss, so this is the good thing about sport. Nobody cares tomorrow.
“We were sad and angry at the time. He is angry and maybe disappointed.
“Tomorrow he has a free day then he has to get his chin up. He is a professional guy, a top guy.
“He is getting in the positions so from there we go on. We will never stop pushing or believing I have the feeling everyone accepts the situation like it is. If he scores in the next game nobody will speak about it.
“Our goal was well deserved and we should have scored at least one more.
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“We looked confident and strong and conceded a goal out of nothing and that can always happen against individual quality. A bit more composure and precision and we could have won.”
Werner missed a golden chance to put Chelsea ahead in the opening attack of the first leg and was hooked with 24 minutes left. He has scored only three goals this year.
Tuchel pointed to the hectic Premier League schedule as another factor which hampered his team’s chances of a shock win in Spain.
He added: “Maybe we could have decided this match In the first half an hour when we were playing so, so strongly.
“We only had two days in between two away games. Those games were very demanding physically and mentally so you could feel that in the decision making, losing the ball and acceleration. One more day would have been great for us.
“Nothing is sure. Everything is possible and we have to fight for every advantage that we want to have. We believe in ourselves.”
Former Chelsea star Eden Hazard came off the bench following injury to face his old club but failed to make an impact.
The Belgian midfielder admitted: “It could be worse, could be better. I feel in better condition now so I’m happy I can play again. It’s always good to play against friends. But I just want to win.”
Chelsea will reach their second Champions League final if they stop Madrid scoring in next Wednesday’s second leg in London.
Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane said: “We had some difficulties in the first half but in the second we were better so its a fair result. We played a very good team, very fast especially on their top line.”
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