hailed Antonio Rudiger’s colossal display against as ‘world-class’ despite ’s agonising defeat at the Bernabeu.
After losing the first leg 3-1 at Stamford Bridge last week, the Blues were virtually written off given the stature of their opponents and the nature of their defeat on home soil.
Chelsea, however, responded with performance full of energy and ingenuity that came within 15 minutes of yielding a stunning act of escapology.
Rudiger was a totemic presence at the heart of his side’s defence and a thorn in the opposition penalty area.
Indeed, it was his emphatic header which tied the scores on aggregate six minutes into the second-half, only for his side to later squander the advantage provided by Timo Werner’s solo effort a quarter of an hour from the end.
Rudiger, ultimately, was the unfortunate fall guy in extra-time, when his slip allowed Karim Benzema the space from which he was able to plunder the decisive goal.
Despite that error, Tuchel was full of praise for the defender who could yet sign for Real in the summer once his Chelsea contract expires.
He said: ‘Toni was outstanding. It was a world-class performance in all belongings. It is what he does on an extremely high level.
‘It is his mentality and focus, and leadership all combined. It is outstanding. This is another example of what he can do after another. That’s it.’
Rudiger, meanwhile, was keen to stress the positives ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace at Wembley.
He told BT Sport: ‘The positive is we didn’t give up. Not many teams can come and dominate them as we did. But over the two legs if you make these kind of mistakes like we did, you get punished.
‘The game plan was to find our number 10s. To find the space. We found it and got the goal. We didn’t panic. In the second half we did everything we could but over the two legs, as I said, you make these mistakes you get punished.
‘It was a do or die for us. I think before the game not everybody thought we would have the 3-0. For them the individual class comes to light with Modric and Benzema.’
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