Thomas Tuchel praised his Chelsea players for their hard work as they made their way through to the Champions League semi-finals.
The Premier League side looked set to go through with a hard-fought 0-0 draw until Mehdi Taremi’s superb overhead kick gave Chelsea a late scare.
Speaking after the game to BT Sport, Tuchel praised his side for securing their passage through to the semi-finals.
“We accepted what was needed was a tough, tough fight. Maybe on the television it was not so nice to watch but on the sidelines it was a very intense game, a very fast game,” he said.
“It was a tough fight and very hard to play against them to escape the pressure. They attack in a fluid and aggressive way. They change positions all the time. They come from behind, they overlap and you have to adapt to many movements. With every minute we did it better and better after a tough start.
“We defended well and deserved a clean sheet. We had the better chances – not a lot – but the better half chances. We could not finish it off with a goal so we had to hang in there and the guys did that. Overall we deserved to beat Porto. It was a tough 180 minutes.”
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Tuchel said that Porto were a difficult side to play against, as other sides had found out earlier in the tournament.
“We had to play defensively but also offensively. Normally Porto is a team who can make other teams underperform. It happened to Man City in the group stages and Juventus. You have to accept that things will be hard,” he explained.
“Part of the performance is to not let the other team perform and we did this today. Until the lucky shot in the last minute we did not concede any chances. We missed some counter-attacks and some touches in the final third to create a little more but we are a young team. We had two guys who scored their first goals in the Champions League in the first leg. We have to accept the circumstances.
“It was a pleasure to watch the fight and be on the sideline with them to see them through.”
