Rio Ferdinand claims Antonio Rudiger “will be embarrassed” for his role in Stefan Savic’s sending off for Atletico Madrid.
Chelsea outplayed the La Liga leaders to win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
Savic was sent off in the second half after he elbowed Rudiger in the chest, sending the Chelsea centre-back to the ground.
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Atletico were already 1-0 down after Hakim Ziyech’s first-half opener, with Emerson Palmieri rounding off the 3-0 aggregate win late on.
Ferdinand had earlier praised Rudiger for his “aggressive” performance alongside Kurt Zouma, but was not impressed with his theatrics which saw Savic shown the red card.
“Rudiger, I think will be embarrassed at the way he’s gone down,” Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“But on the other hand he might say, I’ve got him sent off and we’ve won the game, we’ve seen it out.
“But he’s [Savic] experienced enough to know you’re not going to get away with that in today’s game.”
Former Chelsea star Joe Cole put the blame solely on Savic.
“Savic, I don’t know what he’s thinking,” said Cole.
“For an experienced player to do this.
“They’re hanging on and hanging on and he’s not lost the tie, the tie was lost but there was no chance of coming back…”
Ferdinand also claimed Chelsea were lucky to finish the game with ten men as Cesar Azpilicueta pulled back Yannick Carrasco after an underhit pass in the first half.
“It’s a disgrace,” said Ferdinand.
“If I’m a player or manager in the Atletico dressing room, you’re screaming, you’re going bananas.
“That should be going to VAR, the referee should be called to the sides and said take a look at this. He takes one look at that, 100% red card I’m telling you and the game’s different.”
Tuchel, however, was delighted with the performance of his players.
“Very good performance, unbelievable effort, even from the guys in the stands… could feel we totally wanted it,” Tuchel told BT Sport.
“They tried to pressure us high in the first half but opened up some spaces in the back of the midfield and we could exploit it. Second half there were minutes where we suffered but we were ready to do what was necessary to win.
“We missed Andrea Christensen today, Thiago for many weeks – big personalities. I tell Kurt Zouma this morning he plays and he steps up. It’s about team work, courage and reliability of feeling safe around each other.
“Is it a penalty? (Azpilicueta foul) Azpi got a bit frightened because his ball was short, I did not see it but was a bit frightened.
“We know if we cannot find solutions with offensive play we can rely on our physical game. We were absolutely not afraid to put it on a physical level if we don’t get offensive solutions. We enjoyed the battle. The guys were totally on and sharp, we were super hungry to go through.
“Quarter-final means there’s only four games – it’s a big step and feels excellent.”
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