Tuchel delighted with Chelsea’s fighting spirit

SEVILLE — Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel acknowledged his side’s 1-0 defeat by Porto on Tuesday might not have been a spectacle for neutrals but he revelled in their willingness to scrap as they reached the Champions League semifinals 2-1 on aggregate.

Chelsea had the advantage from the first leg and spent most of the 90 minutes cancelling out the Portuguese, who finally managed to score two minutes into added time with a tremendous overhead kick from Mehdi Taremi.

“We accepted what was needed was a tough, tough fight. Maybe on the television it was not so nice to watch but on the sidelines it was a very intense game, a very fast game,”Tuchel said.

“It was a pleasure to watch the fight and be on the sideline with them to see them through.”

Porto had knocked out Juventus in the last 16 and held Manchester City to a 0-0 draw in the group stage and Tuchel was wary of letting Sergio Conceicao’s side play to their strengths. He also surprisingly described Taremi’s unstoppable overhead kick as fortuitous.

“Part of the performance is to not let the other team perform and we did this today. Until the lucky shot in the last minute we did not concede any chances,” added Tuchel, who led Paris St-Germain to last year’s final.

“We had to play defensively, but also offensively. Normally, Porto is a team which can make other teams underperform. It happened to Man City and Juventus. You have to accept that things will be hard.

“We defended well and deserved a clean sheet. We had the better chances. We could not finish it off with a goal so we had to hang in there and the guys did that.”

Porto midfielder Sergio Oliveira described his side’s exit from the competition as “frustrating and sad”, lamenting the fact they scored so late in the tie.

“With the advantage of two goals, I think Chelsea came to manage us. They wanted to calm down the tempo and our intensity. If we were two goals ahead, I think we would have done the same,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we scored close to the end. Our aim was to score the first goal as quickly as possible, unfortunately, we were unable to do that.”

In the semifinals Chelsea will face either Liverpool or Real Madrid, who were set to play last night.

Meanwhile, Paris St Germain dismissed their reputation as Champions League chokers to reach the semi-finals of Europe’s premium club competition for the second year in a row by eliminating holders Bayern Munich on Tuesday.

The French champions, who had lost their composure when it mattered in recent years, have now eliminated Bayern and Barcelona in the quarter-finals of the last 16, showing ruthless efficiency and proving steady in stormy weather.

While they need to address their home form as Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat by Bayern showed, Mauricio Pochettino’s team can be clinical, having beaten the German champions 3-2 in the first leg despite suffering throughout the match.

In 2017, PSG lost 6-1 at Barca after winning their last-16 first leg 4-0, before choking again in a 3-1 home loss to Manchester United in 2019 after they had won the last-16 first leg 2-0 at Old Trafford.

There was none of that shaky attitude at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday despite the loss.

Pochettino’s makeshift defence, in the absence of captain Marquinhos, rose to the occasion in a nail-biting finale with the attacking trio of Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Angel Di Maria always looking dangerous on the break.

“PSG has grown. The club keeps growing day by day, year by year,” said centre back Presnel Kimpembe, who wore the captain’s armband on Tuesday.

“We bounced back (from previous failures). Tonight (Tuesday) was war, and we won that war.”

While Bayern were without Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry, PSG also had to do without Marquinhos and influential midfielder Marco Verratti, and the French champions managed the absence of key players better.

“We played as a team while attacking, and while defending. That’s what we wanted to do and that’s what we managed to do,” said Pochettino.

“(Midfielder) Idrissa Gueye was a machine, I told him when he left the pitch.”

Upfront, Mbappe’s speed proved a nightmare to handle for the Bayern midfield and defence, while Neymar, although he lacked efficiency, finding the woodwork twice, was a poison throughout.

The duo’s performance over the two legs was key and their contract extension is obviously the club’s priority as they look to win their maiden Champions League title after losing to Bayern in the final last year.

Neymar said that his contract extension was “not a topic anymore” and that he felt happy and “at home” at PSG.

Both Mbappe and Neymar’s contracts expire at the end of next season.