READY TO RUMBLE

TUCHEL BACKS BLUES BOYS TO DELIVER PORTO KNOCKOUT BLOW

THOMAS TUCHEL has placed his trust in Chelsea’s ‘fighters’ Antonio Rudiger, Cesar Azpilicueta and Mateo Kovacic to see his side into the Champions League semifinals tonight.

The Blues stand on the verge of the last four in Europe with a 2-0 lead ahead of the ‘home’ leg of their quarter-final against Porto in Seville.

Despite holding a substantial advantage from last week’s first meeting in Spain, Tuchel’s men face a physical battle against the Portuguese champions.

In Germany defender Rudiger, club captain Azpilicueta and Croatia midfielder Kovacic, he believes he has a spine he can ‘rely’ on.

‘Honestly, you don’t want to be in a fight with Toni Rudiger and Azpi and Kova – they are all emotional guys,’ said Tuchel (right). ‘Because they are all ready to fight and it’s in their nature to show it on the pitch and to protect the interests of our team which is very, very important.

‘They are there and we can rely on them. We can totally rely on them. When I was a player it was always important, when you had big matches and felt the tension, you could look around the dressing room and go out of the tunnel, look around who’s next to you and feel confident and comfortable. ‘And I’m pretty sure our guys feel very, very comfortable when they look around and see who they rely on. The best thing about tomorrow is nobody needs to do it alone.’

The German is aware Porto, who knocked Juventus out in the last round, will make a fight of it on neutral turf.

Goals from Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell made the difference in the first leg and Tuchel, who said he would make a late decision on the inclusion of midfielder N’Golo Kante following a recent hamstring problem, added: ‘We have to accept against Porto the game will be up and down.

‘Sometimes they overload sides and give you a lot of questions. In the first leg we experienced up and downs, then the momentum shifted. This is what you have to accept against them.’

‘We must win these games’

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