Thomas Tuchel
After that, do you feel this tie is still very much alive?
“No, not at the moment. No.”
Why do you feel it’s not alive?
“We have to find our level back. I don’t know where it is since the international break. The first half is a repetition of the second half against Brentford in a quarter-final against Real Madrid. So far off our level in absolutely everything the game demands, we can’t expect a result from this kind of performance. We have to get things ready for Saturday. Not think about the Bernabeu today. Saturday we face Southampton and if we continue to play like this, we will not get a point.”
What was your thinking with the double half-time change?
“We changed the formation and wanted to turn things around. I think personally there was enough that we could hurt them but we were so far off our level in everything the game demands: tactically, individually, shape, stiffness in challenges. So we tried to play in a new formation, but we killed the game off with a big mistake after three minutes.”
Were Andreas Christensen and N’Golo Kante particularly at fault in the first half?
“No, it was a tactical change. It’s like always, it’s never on one or two players. It’s on all of us. I’m included in this. Like I said, individually we lost shape and challenges. Obviously, since the international break, we don’t look the same and I don’t really have an explanation as we were on a long winning streak and were very competitive. The first half was by far not good.”
You won the Champions League last season on your defence, is there something different this season to last?
“If we have the same talk five days ago, we will still speak about the same defensive performance. In five days, it is seven goals conceded and we didn’t change anything: not from the approach, line ups, or the system. I don’t think there’s a deeper reason for it. It is alarming. In two games, seven goals, but nothing has changed.”
How important was Romelu Lukaku’s miss?
“It was very important. There are no longer away goals so if we have only a one-goal deficit or a draw, then you see the momentum is back when we score. We could have even equalise. There were a lot of spaces and chances. But the individual decisions today were far from our level of standards. But yes, to come back with a chance like this at 3-2, after 16 shots in the second half alone, then goals are crucial. We didn’t get them. We gave the third one away. It is simply impossible. We cannot demand that we turn it around if this is our foundation for this game.”
Did you make a mistake playing Christensen in a three and leaving space down the left against Vinicius Junior?
“Yes, it is my mistake.”
Has the ownership uncertainty finally seeped into the group?
“I was a bit shocked when I saw the number of games we played in 2022. I saw it in the last days, we were the team with Liverpool who have played by far the most matches in England and Europe. Don’t forget everybody else’s life changes. We had three extra-times on top of it. So yes, it is a bit worrying. The schedule is not our friend this season and we’ve struggled from it. But we can still play better because I think we found in the first half we could exploit these positions better. We can play much better. We can hurt Real Madrid much more, but we were far off our level and that is very disappointing because it is a night when you need to be spot on. You ask about the circumstances and the change of ownership, I see no difference between the last weeks and the last weeks we performed. I do not accept it as an excuse because of the same reasons that I said before. It is the moment now to find an end to this period of conceding goals and losing games very quickly because we are in an absolutely crucial time of the season.”
Is it the wrong message to say the tie is over?
“If you want to put it on this sentence, put it on this sentence. I worry more about Southampton than I worry about Real Madrid in the next week. There is my focus. Today, is this alive? No. With this performance. First of all, we need to play Southampton and if we don’t get our heads straight and mentality right we will not win in Southampton. And then this tie is not alive. If things change, maybe, but how many clubs in worldwide football won with three goals difference? How often did this happen? So maybe we should be realistic and should not get fatalistic and think that I give the wrong message. Let’s be honest. We are competitive and need to find our competitive spirit and our quality and then we can hope.”
