Thomas Tuchel hails ‘fantastic’ performance as Chelsea beat Real Madrid to reach Champions League final

Blues won 2-0 at Stamford Bridge to seal a 3-1 victory on aggregate

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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel praised his players’ “hunger and desire” after they beat Real Madrid to progress to the final of the Champions League.

Goals from Timo Werner and Mason Mount were enough for the Premier League side, who proved far superior in a one-sided second leg.

And Tuchel was quick to congratulate his team on the victory, which will see them play Manchester City in Istanbul on 29 May.

"We deserved to win,” he told BT Sport. “The first half was difficult because they had a lot of possession, made us suffer.

“Every ball win from us was dangerous; we never lost the hunger, the desire to defend. Second half was even better structure to defend and we could have scored so much earlier to be safe.

“But no time for criticism – fantastic performance and congratulations to the team.”

Real Madrid were oddly subdued and offered little to threaten Chelsea, despite the return to the starting XI of both Eden Hazard and Sergio Ramos.

Tuchel, though, emphasised the difficulty of his side’s achievement against a club with such pedigree in the Champions League.

“Against Real Madrid it's always dangerous: They can turn nothing into gold,” he added. “Never lose concentration, never lose focus, never lose the positive energy. Huge performance and well deserved. I'm happy, very, very happy that we achieve this.

“I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to live my life in football and this profession. To coach a team like this and to arrive a second time in the final, I'm very grateful.”

Asked whether his thoughts had already turned to the final against City, Tuchel said: “It's too early; there can be injured players, players out of form. We need to wait and see.

“Hopefully we arrive with the whole squad, in a good moment and atmosphere. It's not done yet – we want to arrive in Istanbul to win."