Thomas Tuchel repeats Chelsea midfield error vs Real Madrid amid brutal N'Golo Kante dilemma

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Thomas Tuchel's tone post-match probably summarised the sentiment of most inside Stamford Bridge on Wednesday evening. Only four days removed from the humbling against Brentford, Chelsea were handed another resounding defeat courtesy of a Karim Benzema hat-trick.

The uncharacteristic Edouard Mendy error following the restart might have effectively killed the tie heading into next Tuesday's second leg, whilst Tuchel hopes to return to winning ways in the Premier League on Saturday at Southampton.

There were many things to focus on in this post-match debate piece. The defensive lapses, the form of Romelu Lukaku or the continuing pain of no Ben Chilwell. But Chelsea team of writers are going after the case of central midfield after last night's disappointment.

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The question surrounds whether Tuchel got it wrong with the midfield he started, particularly omitting the in-form Mateo Kovacic from the line-up again, the player signed from Real for £45m in 2019 has now only started four of Chelsea's last nine games.

Pre-match the team debated potentially dropping N'Golo Kante for this clash. In the end, the Frenchman was substituted at half-time for