Thomas Tuchel admits Chelsea were ‘slow and tired’ in their Champions League defeat by Juventus

Thomas Tuchel bemoaned the rhythm and freshness absent from his team as Chelsea crashed to a second successive defeat.

The European champions were beaten 1-0 in Turin on Wednesday, just four days after losing by the same score at home against Manchester City in the Premier League.

‘Disappointed,’ said Tuchel. ‘We’re all disappointed. It was the tough game we expected. You have to play with zero mistakes in midfield and take the risks in the right moment. To do this you need to be in rhythm, good decision-making.

‘I didn’t feel us fresh today, mentally. We were in training yesterday. Today it was not like this. I don’t know why. If you need any proof, look at the two ball losses in the first half and the cheap goal we gave away.

‘I felt us slow, tired, mentally slow with our decision making. We had ball possession, high recoveries but two crucial ball losses. You can’t have this on this kind of level.’

Federico Chiesa stunned Chelsea with the only goal of the game, smashed into the net within 12 seconds of the start of the second half.

‘It is impossible on this kind of level to concede a goal like this in the first seconds of the second half,’ fumed Tuchel. 

Federico Chiesa stunned the trophy holders by netting just seconds after the half-time restart

Chelsea sit in second in Group H, but Tuchel believes his side looked ‘slow and tired’ in Turin

‘When you know what’s coming and you have defensive organisation like we have, normally it’s always possible to defend it. We got punished for it.’

He also claimed the negative and defensive approach by Juventus made it more difficult for his team to impose the style he wanted to see.

‘We struggled to create our own rhythm because they were so deep and so passive. It is not easy, we struggled to find our own intensity, but this is what you need to do.’

After two games, Chelsea are second in Group H behind Juventus with two fixtures next against Malmo of Sweden.