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Thomas Tuchel has provided his thoughts on Romelu Lukaku missing a sitter as Chelsea lost 3-1 to Real Madrid yesterday. The striker was brought off the bench in the second half and could have made an impact had he finished the clear-cut chance that came his way.
Lukaku was once again on the bench in an important fixture as Tuchel decided to start Kai Havertz over the £97.5million signing. The former Inter Milan star had failed to meet the expectations so far, which led to this situation. However, the striker could have turned his fortunes around with a decisive goal, but unfortunately, he had missed the opportunity.
Speaking in the post-match press conference (h/t ESPN), the German boss has expressed his disappointment over the Belgian attacker missing the crucial chance. The manager added that that could have been an all-important moment for them since away goals have been scrapped by UEFA.
“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 equalised. There were a lot of spaces and chances. But the individual decisions today were far from our level of standards.”
The 28-year-old forward had a chance to perhaps turn his fortunes at Stamford Bridge around if he finished off the clear cut opportunity. He was all alone near the six-year box as Cesar Azpilicueta’s deflected cross came his way, but his header was agonisingly wide of the mark.
That was a golden opportunity to make it 2-3 in the tie, plus we could have pushed for an equaliser from the momentum that would have been created from that chance. But that was not the case, and now we must look ahead to the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu to turn things around.
Havertz had a similar first season with us, just like Lukaku, but the former had always been decisive for us. The goal in the CL final against Manchester City capped off a tough last term for him and that served as the starting point for Havertz’s gradual rise at the Bridge. Lukaku could have done the same, and he had the chance to make an important impact which he failed to do so.
However, scapegoating Lukaku would not help in any case, as he was far from the biggest issue of the night. The entire team was poor for a large part of the match, which eventually led to our defeat. What’s more, the striker even set up Hakim Ziyech with a good chance that the latter failed to convert.
As such, we now have a steep road to climb in the second leg against Los Blancos, which is a tough task indeed, considering how good they are with Karim Benzema in their ranks. Let’s hope that Tuchel’s side can change things around in the reverse fixture, which will take place in the Spanish capital.
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