While Saturday's shock four-1 domestic defeat in opposition to Brentford changed into hardly ever ideal practise for the quarter-final first leg against Real, Chelsea boss Tuchel has handled worse setbacks all through a turbulent duration for his club. When Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by means of the British authorities for his alleged links with Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine, the Blues had been plunged right into a monetary meltdown that threatened to engulf Tuchel's group.
Unable to barter new contracts with players because of the sanctions, Chelsea have needed to take a seat through at the same time as key defenders Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Cesar Azpilicueta considered their futures. As if that wasn't doubtlessly distracting sufficient, fears were mounting that Chelsea might be driven into management amid the mayhem induced with the aid of the sanctions.
Restricted on the amount of money they might spend on tour to away games, Tuchel joked he was inclined to drive the group bus himself earlier than their Champions League last 16 win at Lille. Yet, despite the chaos, Tuchel stored his players targeted so nicely that they received six successive matches in all competitions right away after Abramovich placed the membership up for sale.
It became a triumphing streak that underlined Tuchel's quality features as he deflected any strain far from his players with intelligent, empathetic responses to questions about the warfare in Ukraine and the unintentional outcomes for Chelsea. That made it all of the extra sudden while Chelsea lower back from the international smash with any such sloppy display ultimate weekend, as Brentford recovered from Rudiger's opener to overcome their west London neighbours for the first time on account that 1939.
Aware his players cannot have enough money to experience sorry for themselves with Real's visit to Stamford Bridge looming, Tuchel attempted to downplay the volume of the Brentford defeat. "After so many wins and so many desirable outcomes, I will now refuse to make a drama out of it. Why ought to we?" he said.
Challenging Chelsea to respond towards La Liga leaders Real, Tuchel stated: "It's hard to take because it's very unusual for us what came about. It's a summary of weird activities but it's on us and it's our fault. We will dig in and try to discover why it changed into like this. There are some reasons which we will placed on us and we will examine and digest it. There is nothing else."
Tuchel might take coronary heart from the parallels to a similar result at the identical weekend remaining season when Chelsea crashed to a five-2 domestic defeat in opposition to quickly to be relegated West Bromwich Albion. That lovely setback served as a be-careful call for the Blues, who received at Porto inside the Champions League quarter-final first leg just days later.
Tuchel's revitalised crew embarked on dominant run that carried them all of the way to victory over Manchester City inside the Champions League very last. Their hopes of an immediate reaction this time may also relaxation on Tuchel's team choice. Having left Jorginho, Reece James and Mateo Kovacic at the bench towards Brentford, Tuchel is probably to make adjustments for the Real showdown.
"We selected the crew due to the fact we concept it become the first-class group towards Brentford," Tuchel said. "There turned into now not half an eye fixed or one in line with cent on Real Madrid. This turned into our fault and we must examine it speedy."
