Tuchel Keen To Avoid ‘Very Strong’ Liverpool In Champions League Semi Finals

Tuchel Keen To Avoid ‘Very Strong’ Liverpool In Champions League Semi Finals

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says he would much rather face Real Madrid than Liverpool in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

The Blues scraped into the final four last night. Despite losing their second leg against Porto 1-0, they still progressed 2-1 on aggregate, and when asked about their next opponents after the match, Tuchel said he wants to avoid playing another English team:

“I don’t wish for nothing but, in general, I like it in Champions League not to play teams from your own league. Because it gets a bit more the feeling of the European competition but that’s the only thing. Whoever deserves it – I think the game is far from over – but I will watch it for sure. It’s a pleasure to watch it as semi-finalists, a great achievement. We will watch these games and there is nothing decided yet. Everything is possible. Liverpool is very strong at home, the Premier League is strong. We take what we get, it’s a good situation for us.”

To be honest, Liverpool fans are not really thinking about a potential matchup with Chelsea in the semi-finals. The Reds have it all to do this evening to turn around a two-goal deficit at Anfield.

Under normal circumstances, the home advantage would likely have been enough to see them over the line, despite their weakened defence, but with the game being played behind closed doors, it does look like a long shot.

An early goal would certainly help this evening, but the key will be keeping a clean sheet, so Real don’t get that crucial away goal.