Thomas Tuchel left scrambling for answers after Chelsea’s limp defeat by Real Madrid

After Karim Benzema had amazed the Stamford Bridge crowd, Thomas Tuchel stunned those in front of him.

The first question of the Chelsea manager’s press conference after a chastening 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid was whether the tie is still alive. “No,” Tuchel said bluntly. “Not at the moment, no.”

When he was later asked to clarify whether this was exactly what he meant, given it sounded a bit defeatist, the German only doubled down.

“If you want to put it [as your headline] on this sentence put it on this sentence,” he said. “I worry more about Southampton than Real Madrid in the next week. Today, with this performance is it alive? No. If we don’t get our heads and legs straight we will not win in Southampton and then this tie is not alive. If things change, maybe, but how many clubs need three goals and how often did this happen?”

It is of course possible that this was Tuchel’s novel way of trying to motivate the players. He insisted the club’s takeover wasn’t an excuse either. Asked whether it has affected them, Tuchel gave another straight answer. “No.”

It might be the case that Tuchel was attempting to change the mood or spark something within his squad, but all his answers did in the immediate aftermath was alter the story.

The night went from one mostly about Benzema to one where it became about Tuchel. The Chelsea manager may insist the club’s sale hasn’t affected his players, but it looked like some of it was getting to him.

The English media, at the least, have not seen him like this. He was not beaten, exactly - despite his words - but he was markedly downbeat, Put bluntly, Tuchel looked like someone scrambling for answers for the first time in his spell at Chelsea.

The quip within some areas of the ground was