REAL CLASH OF CULTURES
Tuchel orders his one-time champions to keep it simple to stop Euro royalty
A WEEK ago they were allies, tonight they go head-to-head.
Old money is drawn against new money in a competition which remains a bit too inclusive for the refined tastes of one of them at least.
But for 180 minutes spread over two absorbing legs, it will be about what it always needs to be about – the football.
And rather than putting on airs and graces, Thomas Tuchel’s message to his Chelsea players is simple.
“We need to be ourselves,” said Tuchel, right. “The strategy once you arrive is: the higher you get, the more you rely on yourself, rely on your own strengths and do the things which make you comfortable and which are proven can work.We have these things as a team, this is what we try to do at the best level.
“There’s no other approach for a match like this. Hopefully we don’t overthink it, hopefully we don’t overdo it, the challenge is to be the best version of ourselves for 90 or 94 minutes.”
Right now, thanks to their president Florentino Perez, Real Madrid are anything but the best version of themselves. Nevertheless, they are 13-time champions of what, for now, remains the continent’s elite competition and their name still sends a shiver up the spine of anybody who draws them.
“Yes, well I wouldn’t really want to play against us,” countered Chelsea winger Christian Pulisic. “I don’t think it is an easy game against us, ever. That’s the status everyone wants to have.
“Real have their history. They are a great team and it is not going to be an easy challenge.
“It is about going there and respecting them but also believing in what we stand for and what we can do. It is going to be a really good match-up between two big teams across Europe.”
For all of Roman Abramovich’s roubles, Chelsea have just the one Champions League title, from 2012.
But Tuchel is eager his players are not blinded by the contrast on the honours sheets.
This clash is no different, he insists, to some of the challenges in the Premier League. Chelsea are already playing against ‘Super
League’ level opponents domestically 10 times a season.
Tuchel said: “I strongly believe that sometimes circumstances and playing against a big experienced team and a huge club in Europe, like Real Madrid, maybe the next step is just to keep the level and not to over expect from us to take the next step.
“We showed against Spurs and Liverpool, and against Porto and Atletico, that we’re capable of producing highlevel football in all questions that are asked on the pitch in both offensive and defensive terms, and in transition.
“The challenge for me is to produce it again.”