Thomas Tuchel insists Chelsea after confident ahead of Champions League final

06 May 2021 11:15

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has said that the Blues will arrive at the Champions League final with confidence that they can lift the biggest trophy in Europe for the second time in their history.

Tuchel led his side to an emphatic 2-0 victory over Real Madrid (that should have been five or six) which booked their place in the Champions League final, where they will meet Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

Chelsea beat City when the two sides met in the FA Cup semi-final last month, and they will have another chance to rock Guardiola's men when they butt heads in the Premier League on Saturday, and Tuchel admitted his side are feeling good about the upcoming game.

"No [it doesn't give us] the upper hand, but it gives us a good feeling, it gives us confidence," he said (via Sky Sports News). "They are the benchmark and we wanted to close the gap to Man City.

"We will need the same level of performance again. It gave us belief, because it is the highest level you can face.

"We will arrive with self-confidence and the positive energy in Istanbul, and we will arrive in Istanbul to win, not to be one of the participants. We arrive with a clear focus to win."

Wednesday's game was perhaps the most emphatic of Tuchel's reign so far. To not only beat Real but come one good striker away from bagging five or six was hugely impressive, and Tuchel admitted he could not be happier with what he is seeing from his side.

"It's worth it every single day so far, I work for an amazing club from the first day, I felt huge support from day one, and I am grateful to be on the sideline of this team," he continued. "This was another energetic performance full of positive attitude and hunger, the spirit to go.

"Their heads were never down. Even after these big chances, they were positive. We are not done yet. we are in two finals now, and the sacrifice, I personally gave was worth it from day one.

"I'm pretty happy with what I see. [When I arrived] I thought individually and as a group they were strong and had great behaviour, and that never stopped. It's a pleasure to be in the dressing room.

"We hang in and fight our way through, we use our bodies and work rate, and if we cannot out play them we out work them. They didn't step back, they never got frustrated, I never saw a change in mentality or body language, it was very positive and very brave. We didn't regress. We really wanted it, wanted it badly.

"Pure individual quality, to hang in there, to continue with positive body language, to hang in physically, and the mental attitude like today, to stay aggressive and active, to never stop trying, play for the second ball, never allowing Real to push us deep, this is really huge. I am absolutely delighted with this spirit, and big credit, big congratulations to the team."

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Source: 90min