Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel thinks their “deserved” victory over West Ham will serve them well when they face Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
The Blues take on the Spanish side in a Champions League semi-final after moving up to fourth in the Premier League with a 1-0 win over the Hammers on Saturday.
And Tuchel has some good news ahead of the fixture with everyone apart from Mateo Kovacic fit to face Zinedine Zidane’s side.
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“Only Matteo Kovacic is missing, everybody else is available and everybody else will be in the squad,” Tuchel said.
“We deserved the win [against West Ham] and it was a crucial win. we play in the most demanding league in Europe and we play almost every three days. We performed and we showed our skills in all of these matches.
“It is a good experience we have in our luggage and it makes the bond close because we clearly need a top level performance tomorrow when we fight with Real Madrid.”
And Tuchel thinks he is starting to see a “strong bond” in his squad, he added: “It’s experience that we have together, every match we play at a high level.
“We have a strong bond within the squad and I feel that we are ready to suffer together.
“We feel that it’s a good moment to play this match, we want to play with hunger and maybe we have a little less experience in the semi-final but maybe we can play with enthusiasm.
Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester City were all threatened with expulsion from the Champions League when they announced plans for a new European Super League eight days ago.
However, Tuchel insists the Blues “deserve” their place in the last four, he continued: “We deserve to be in the semi-final, like Real Madrid.
“We do not deserve it because of political decisions or because of our logo, we deserve it because we have come a long way.
“I had the luck to be part of it since the knockout phase and we have fought our way through with results. If problems exist on a sports political level, it has to be sorted on that level.”
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