Christian Pulisic says Chelsea’s shock defeat by Brentford can be a welcome kick-start and “fuel” for tonight’s crunch Champions League clash against Real Madrid.
The Blues went down 4-1 at home against their west London rivals on Saturday but Pulisic, who was rested, says they are still full of confidence for Real’s visit in the quarter-final first leg — a rerun of last season’s final-four clash.
Chelsea are also just five points clear of fourth-placed Tottenham and Arsenal in the table and preparing for an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace this month.
Pulisic believes the Brentford game can be the wake-up call they needed for the decisive run-in. “The game at the weekend was a tough one but maybe the kick we needed to get us ready for the games coming up,” he said.
“The guys are definitely going to turn it around. We are still going to be confident, as we should. Going into a game like Real, it’s not going to be easy but hopefully that [Brentford] game will give us a bit of desire to get back out there as soon as possible and win a big game.
“We’ve all been through moments like that before, that’s why we are experienced as a team. While it was a crazy result, it’s not time to panic and take it with us. We’ll use it as fuel to turn it around. Everyone at the club handled it well. We will do the best to react and bring it into these next games.”
Despite continuing to compete on three fronts, Chelsea’s season has been overshadowed by the race to buy the club from sanctioned oligarch Roman Abramovich, with the prospective owners currently jostling for position.
“The guys have done really well to deal with it,” Pulisic added. “The way they reacted to get result and result, obviously the weekend was tough, but the guys have done a great job and I don’t think anything is going to change going into the business end of the season, even bigger games. This team is going to step up and do the best we can — focusing on the task at hand and the next game. That’s all we can do.”
Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel, who will be without Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ben Chilwell again tonight, has called for the home fans “to be better” at Stamford Bridge tonight after a flat atmosphere against the Bees.
“We absolutely need it,” Tuchel said. “We need to be better on the pitch — we’re the first to admit it — but we need the crowd to be better. We need everybody on the front foot. It’s a big match, quarter-finals, against a big opponent. It’s a big occasion. I think that normally we have these kinds of atmospheres in the evening games and big matches throughout this season.
“Spectators in the Champions League matches gave us a huge push in terms of atmosphere and energy. We need it. It’s crucial in these games. We feel it in every away game when we play to win: Malmo, St Petersburg, Lille.
“It’s super-hard and it’s harder to play against the spectators as well. We will face it next week in Madrid, so everybody needs to be on the top level. We have to set the spark but everybody needs to arrive ready to support.”
