"Guys from the bench had a huge impact" - Tuchel lauds Chelsea's fighting spirit after 'fantastic' Club World Cup win

Chelsea earned a narrow 2-1 victory over Palmeiras to claim the FIFA Club World Cup for the first time in their history yesterday. The Blues needed extra time minutes to get the job done and manager Thomas Tuchel has showered praise on them for their relentless effort.

It was indeed a resilient performance for the Brazilian side who didn't stop fighting until the end. Despite picking up the victory, Thomas Tuchel couldn't help but applaud the South Americans for their resilient performance during the game.

The Chelsea boss was quoted as saying as per Football.London:

“[Palmeiras] were very good individually and had huge solidarity and discipline. They had huge sacrifices against the ball, suffer and defended together. So we knew it would be difficult to create half chances.

"We had to be patient, but relentless at the same time [...] you don’t want to open spaces for counter-attacks which they rely on and are very good."

Palmeiras really gave Chelsea a run for their money by defending and attacking as a unit, while causing the Blues a lot of problems on the break. Thomas Tuchel has revealed he had to change his team's approach at least twice to contain the Brazilians. The tactician also hailed the impact of his substitutes in the latter part of the game.

He said:

“[In the first half we were] a bit stuck and we struggled with the fluidity of our match. We changed the structure a bit in the second half and found the spaces better. [But] then the whole story starts from scratch [after their equalizer], which is mentally and physically not easy. We never stopped attacking and never stopped trying for the 90 minutes."

“We changed the structure again in extra time, had a different structure to defend and attack, and the team did very well to control the match completely. The guys from the bench had a huge impact."

The Blues celebrating their first ever FIFA Club World Cup triumph

What next for Thomas Tuchel and Chelsea?

Following their FIFA Club World Cup triumph yesterday, Chelsea will return to Premier League action next weekend with a clash with Crystal Palace on Saturday. The Blues will then switch to the Champions League next week on Tuesday, where they'll face Lille in the first leg of their round of 16 encounters.

Thomas Tuchel's men will be hoping to use their momentum to push through the next few weeks. As it stands, they're still active in all competitions they've participated in so far this season. It remains to be seen if they'll end the campaign with silverware.