Thomas Tuchel: Chelsea boss hails mentality of players following 2-1 win at Lille in Champions League last 16
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Updated 17/03/2022 at 11:27 GMT
It has been a difficult time at Stamford Bridge in recent weeks, but Chelsea pushed that aside with a confident display that saw them book a place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. Head coach Thomas Tuchel has praised the work of his side, but insists focus must quickly turn to this weekend’s FA Cup trip to Middlesbrough.
Thanks for ruining my evening' Tuchel's response to question after Chelsea reach last eight
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel says his players "dug in" and "did what was necessary" as they eased into the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with victory in Lille.
Despite falling behind on the night to a Burak Yilmaz penalty, the visitors turned things around either side of half-time thanks to goals from Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta.
The build-up to the game had been overshadowed by the ramifications caused by Roman Abramovich's ownership of the club, but there were no signs of distractions on the pitch as Chelsea brushed aside their Ligue 1 opponents 4-1 on aggregate to advance in Europe.
"It's so nice that so many fans are here to support the team, it feels brilliant," Tuchel told BT Sport following their victory. "The quarter-finals is a big step. We showed resilience and mentality to overcome difficulties.
"We did what was necessary. We dug in and got a deserved win. It's difficult here."
He added: "Chelsea has this kind of culture within the club where we work every day. What I found from day one was a football first mentality. Everybody pushes the first team every three days, everybody goes to the limit and is focused on football.
"We've been trying to implement an atmosphere. This culture is already installed and this helps us now to focus with difficult and distracting times because it's always there.
"We encourage the players. It feels so good we can still produce results and I'm proud."
Despite a successful night in France, Tuchel criticised the pitch and admits he made some mistakes in how he set his team up for the match.
"We weren't so good in the first half. The pitch was horrible and it made things complicated. It was a new pitch not ready to play on," Tuchel said. "The tactics weren't right in the first 20 minutes, I take responsibility.
"Then it was more fluid. It was very important to calm everyone down.
"We hope and expect to carry on. We want to compete. It took a lot of sacrifice, we fought hard to be in the last eight. We're excited for the draw [but] we have a game in Middlesbrough three days later."
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