Tuchel explains what Chelsea’s win over Man City suggests for the Champions League final.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel alleges that his team will go into the Champions League final understanding they can beat Manchester City, before playing down the importance of this evening’s win when thinking ahead to Istanbul.
Tuchel team appears to have City’s number since Tuchel succeeded Frank Lampard having defeated the impending champions twice in just a matter of weeks.
Chelsea thumped City out of the FA Cup in the semi-finals three weeks ago at Wembley before bouncing back from behind to demolish their Premier League title party.
Raheem Sterling put the hosts ahead before City had a brilliant chance to double the lead going into half-time when Billy Gilmour tripped Gabriel Jesus in the box.
Up stepped Sergio Aguero, whose time at the club is fast running out, but the Argentine’s tame panenka effort was collected by the intrepid Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea then punished City after the break as Hakim Ziyech drove the ball in for the leveler with a gently hit effort.
City then could have had a penalty late in the day when Sterling was apparently bundled over by Kurt Zouma.
Yet it was Chelsea who secured all three points when Marcos Alonso directed the ball over Ederson and into the net in stoppage time.
Tuchel remains ardent to play down the psychological advantage heading into the Champions League final, despite acknowledging they have the beating of City.
“Sure it gives us confidence,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s all about performance and confidence.
“We know very well and I’ve said this before and I will repeat it, we know that the final is a very unique game.
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“You cannot predict what will happen so you need to be well prepared.
“We will have some changes and they will have some changes again but we arrive with the knowledge that we are capable of beating them.
“This is what we have and this will not change ahead of the game.”
Tuchel also paid tribute to his side’s display in the second half, as flipped the game on its head to take a large step towards a top-four finish.
“What a performance in the second half, it was more or less an equal first half before the last five minutes where we almost had to give it away completely,” Tuchel added.
“If they score the penalty it’s probably over before it really starts.
“Then you go to half-time at 2-0 and have no chance to come back.
“It was very hard because we were 1-0 down and had one injured player.
“By the performance in the second half I think we deserved to win.
“Of course you need a bit of luck to win all three points at the Etihad, you need a bit of momentum from decisions from refereeing but we had many, many half-chances in the second half.
“Big, big congratulations to the team for their performance, particularly second half.”
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Tuchel explains what Chelsea’s win over Man City suggests for the Champions League final.
