Thomas Tuchel: Chelsea boss slams referee for ‘smiling and laughing loud’ with Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel slammed the referee for “smiling and laughing loud” with his Real Madrid counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti, in the wake of his side’s Champions League exit. The Blues narrowly missed out on a famous European comeback after recovering from a 3-1 first leg defeat to lead 3-0 in the Bernabeu with barely 10 minutes left on the clock.

Ad/> But Rodrygo’s glorious strike sent the tie to extra time, where Karim Benzema’s header sealed a 5-4 aggregate win for Real. Champions LeagueTime for Werner to join cast of unlikely lads in Bernabeu – The Warm-UpYESTERDAY AT 05:57 Tuchel was full of praise for his side and said they “deserved to go through” before turning on referee Szymon Marciniak.

«I was disappointed that the referee had a good time with my colleague, with Carlo Ancelotti,” said Tuchel, who confronted the official after the match. “I know that Carlo is a gentleman and a nice guy, but when I wanted to go and say, 'thank you for the match', I see him [Marciniak] smiling and laughing loud with the opponent's coach.

“I think this is a very, very wrong time to do this, after the final whistle and 126 minutes, and one team giving their heart and fighting to the very last drop, and you go as a coach and see the referee smiling and laughing with the other coach. “I think it's very, very bad timing, and I told him this.» Chelsea showed fight but their season goes down as a failure How the Champions League impacts Ballon d’Or voting Tuchel was aggrieved that Marcos Alonso's goal in the 62nd minute was chalked out for the faintest of handballs by Marciniak based on guidance from VAR, rather than checking it himself on the pitchside monitor.