Chelsea Have ‘True Belief’ They Can Defeat Man City in Champions League Final, Tuchel Says

 

Chelsea’s head coach Thomas Tuchel claims the blues will prepare for the Champions League final in the “true belief” they can beat Manchester City.

Tuchel’s side have now beaten their final opponents twice in recent weeks following Saturday’s 2-1 Premier League victory at the Etihad Stadium.

The London outfit were also triumphant when the sides met in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley last month.

Chelsea manager Tuchel accepts these results may not have a huge bearing on the May 29 showpiece – after all City made multiple changes for both games – but they cannot damage confidence.

The German said: “I said before it would not change too much, no matter what result came out of this game. I will stick with that but surely it’s not a disadvantage for us to have this experience, in such a short time, of beating them twice.

“We know very well that if you play a final, it’s very special and you fight for every centimetre and every advantage that you can make to win the game.

“But, yes, it gives us the true belief that we can do it because we’ve already done it. We’ll try to conserve the feeling and this momentum for our arrival in Istanbul, because we’ll arrive with a clear target and a clear objective to win.

“The best way to play a final is to be self-confident and I think we can conserve this feeling from these two matches.”

Tuchel also believes the importance of Chelsea’s games in the build-up to the Champions League final will help them to maintain their sharpness and momentum.

Although Saturday’s win lifted them to third, Chelsea still have work to do in their final three fixtures to secure a top-four position. They also face Leicester in the FA Cup final next weekend.

Tuchel, whose side host Arsenal on Wednesday, said: “It feels like every game is a really decisive game because in all competitions we need to fight hard to fulfil our goals and our dreams.

“We take it like it is. It is not a disadvantage. I like the atmosphere and the spirit and the context of the games as we are constantly under pressure.

“The team is living up to it in a very impressive way and we have to keep on going.”