Tuchel: Compared to Real Madrid we have a huge disadvantage, they can substitute five players, we can only substitute three

Chelsea will try to reverse the unfavourable fate of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid on Tuesday. After a 1:3 home defeat, they need to score at least two goals to take the game into extra time. But Thomas Tuchel sees a big disadvantage against his opponent.

The first match surprised many. Those who expected an aggressive and dynamic Chelsea to set the pace of the Premier League were in for a shock. Real Madrid put in a great performance and could have scored 4 goals in the first half alone. It was the Los Blancos players who gave a much fresher and faster impression than the Londoners.

Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel found an explanation for this fact. He sees a disadvantage in the rules.

“We didn’t work hard enough in the first game. We need to be in better physical condition. We have a huge disadvantage against Real, they can rotate 5 players all year, we can only rotate 3,” complained Tuchel at the press conference.

He was referring to the rule that in La Liga there is still a “coronary measure”, i.e. 5 substitutions, in the Premier League only 3 players can be substituted again.

Real Madrid fans reply amusedly to Tuchel that coach Carlo Ancelotti doesn’t know about it anyway, as he rarely uses all 5 substitutions. He is a very conservative type of coach and prefers to rely on his permanent eleven, often making substitutions only in the last minutes.

The German coach, probably on purpose, puts Chelsea in the role of a write-off underdog. After the first match he announced that the double-header was already decided, now he called turning the match almost impossible. He is probably trying to get into the heads of the opposition players to underestimate Chelsea and think that they already have promotion in the bag.

Source: UEFA