"The tie is not alive" - Tuchel makes honest admission on Chelsea's Champions League hopes after Real Madrid setback

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel was extremely candid following his side's 3-1 home defeat against Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final clash last night. The German tactician practically admitted that the Blues have little to no chance of turning the result around in the second leg.

The defending champions hosted Real Madrid last night and many expected the Blues to hold their own at home. However, Karim Benzema seemed to have other plans as the Los Blancos striker fired home a sensational hat-trick to wreck Chelsea.

Benzema drew first blood when he headed in an excellent cross from Vinicius Jr. in the 21st minute. The Frenchman soon doubled Real Madrid's lead when he headed home in the 24th minute to convert yet another gorgeous pass - this time from Luka Modric.

Although Kai Havertz pulled one back for Chelsea at the stroke of half-time, Benzema put the game to bed moments into the second half when he capitalized on a defensive error to score his and his side's third of the night.

Following the 3-1 defeat, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel all but admitted that the tie was over. As per Marca, a frustrated Tuchel spoke about the result in a post-match press conference and said:

“If you want to use that phrase [if is the tie over], use it. Now, I’m worried about Southampton. With this result the tie is not alive. If we don’t have a good mentality, we won’t beat Southampton. It is realistic to think that the tie is over. How many teams have come back like this?"

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Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea have not been the same since the international break following Real Madrid loss

Thomas Tuchel admits that his side haven't been the same since the international break

Chelsea's loss versus Real Madrid last night made it two defeats in two matches for the Blues since the international break, after they lost to Brentford in the Premier League last weekend.

Thomas Tuchel was reflective of the same and admitted that his side seems to have lost their finesse since the break, despite being on a good run before that. He further stated that he has no explanation regarding the situation. He said:

“If I can explain it further? We have to rediscover our level, but since the break I don’t know where it is. The first half was a repeat of the second against Brentford. The game didn’t go well, and we couldn’t expect a good result with that performance.”

“I tried to change things. We tried to play with a new system in the second half. We started with a big mistake. [Andreas] Christensen’s change? It has nothing to do with a single player. We are a team. We have lost our finesse since the break; we are not the same team. I have no explanation, before we were on a good run. The first half wasn’t good enough.”