There are few who seem less comfortable with the concept of the heroic near-miss than Thomas Tuchel. The chances are that he is likelier to deem it unacceptable. When Chelsea’s defence of their Champions League trophy ended in glorious failure, beating Real Madrid in the Bernabeu after a magnificent comeback, but eliminated on aggregate by another, Tuchel cut a bad-tempered figure, complaining that referee Szymon Marciniak had smiled, laughed and had a good time with Real manager Carlo Ancelotti.
And if he might have inadvertently offered an insight into the amiable Ancelotti’s enduring success, the 2021 and 2022 Champions League-winning managers represent opposites. They showed there are very different ways to conquer Europe: Real spent much of the knockout stages trailing and their aggregate scores alone – 3-2, 5-4, 6-5 – conveyed some of the sense of the drama in their progress to Paris. Chelsea scored more goals in Madrid alone than they conceded – a mere two – in seven knockout matches the previous year.
That pyrrhic 3-2 triumph feels like their last great performance under Tuchel. There have been too few victories of any kind since then: just seven in 16 matches in all competitions. Few have had a good time at Stamford Bridge: certainly not Tuchel, who has cut an irascible figure at various stages, even if Chelsea’s seemingly scattergun spending has brought a few smiles to faces elsewhere.
But having won the Champions League without signing a player, let alone spending a fee, at Stamford Bridge, Tuchel’s task now is to do so after a summer outlay of a quarter of a billion. In theory, that should be easier. In practice, it might be harder.
Chelsea have rarely looked less Europe’s best team in 2022. They kick off a competition they won 15 months ago as eighth favourites with some bookmakers. That said, their idiosyncratic winning formula is built on being outsiders: twice it entailed a mid-season managerial change after a slump in domestic form, so perhaps all that matters is progressing from the group. Which, as they have been pitted with Dinamo Zagreb, RB Salzburg and AC Milan, looks eminently doable.
Tuchel’s task in part lies in bringing the kind of understanding to an expensively modelled squad that he implemented immediately in the group he inherited. His definitive team, none of them signed by him, had a remorseless consistency and an enviable solidity. The current uneasy blend of old and new has conceded nine goals in their last five games. Their sole clean sheet this season came against an Everton side without a striker.
A trip to Croatia could bring Champions League debuts for Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana, some £130m of signings who are utterly untried on this stage, and a first in Chelsea colours for Kalidou Koulibaly, whose years at Napoli never took him into a quarter-final, let alone a final.
Yet it might be more instructive if Edouard Mendy figures on the teamsheet. Named goalkeeper of the year for the Champions League in 2020-21 and Fifa’s best goalkeeper for 2021, his dip in form brought an embarrassing error at Leeds and a controversial reprieve against West Ham, when he spilled the ball, Maxwel Cornet appeared to have equalised and, courtesy of poor officiating, the goal was chalked off. David Moyes accused Mendy of feigning injury. Tuchel produced a defence of sorts as he quoted Napoleon Bonaparte, but it will be telling if his defence is shielding Kepa Arrizabalaga instead.
Much of the spine of Tuchel’s Champions League-winning side is out of form. Jorginho was rested against West Ham, along with Mason Mount, who is yet to deliver a goal or an assist this season. Kai Havertz’s strikes have been too infrequent, even if his 2021 final winner against Manchester City has showed they can have significance, and his winner against West Ham was a belated first of the campaign.
Whereas names used to be set in stone in Tuchel’s team, it is hard to know who, beyond Thiago Silva, Reece James and the oft-injured N’Golo Kante, has earned that right now, though the price tags and pursuits of players such as Raheem Sterling, Koulibaly, Fofana and Cucurella indicates that they are expected to be integral.
The meeting with Dinamo brings possible debuts for Denis Zakaria – merely the new Saul Niguez or a player who will have a more meaningful role? – and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who offers the potential of becoming the first Chelsea player to prove prolific under Tuchel. Whether or not the former Arsenal captain does, Tuchel has a second side to shape.
His first proved ideally suited to the rhythms of European football in empty stadia. After steering Paris Saint-Germain to the 2020 final, he returns to the Champions League as arguably its outstanding manager of the last three seasons. Ancelotti’s record suggests he is the best in its history. Part of the Italian’s skill lies in his ability to adapt to different players and forge new teams. Now that is Tuchel’s test.
Dinamo Zagreb v Chelsea is on BT Sport tomorrow, kick-off at 17:45
