Chelsea face 'incredibly high' challenge to stay in Champions League: Tuchel

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel said his team needs a "fantastic script" to overturn a two-goal deficit against Real Madrid on Tuesday and qualify for the Champions League semi-finals. Reigning European champions Chelsea have been destabilised by the enforced sale of the club after the British government sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich for his close links to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine.

Chelsea's 3-1 defeat in the first leg at Stamford Bridge last week followed a surprise 4-1 home defeat to Brentford in the Premier League, although Chelsea got back on track with a 6-0 thrashing of Southampton this weekend. "It is one of the biggest challenges to perform away at the Bernabeu," Tuchel said.

"It is even more difficult if you have to earn a certain result, if you need to win with a minimum of two goals or better or maybe a three-goal difference, that makes it almost impossible and very, very difficult but still it is worth trying. "We need nothing else than a fantastic script if we want to overcome this," the German said.

"The task is incredibly high and the challenge is incredibly high given the circumstances of the first leg and where we play and against whom we play and at what stage we play this kind of match. "It's always allowed to dream and it is sometimes important to imagine things and to dream about it but it will not shift the focus from the fact that we need to deliver and we need to be ready tomorrow." Tuchel said he believed Chelsea face a "huge disadvantage" as 13-times European champions Real have been able to make five substitutions throughout their domestic season.