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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has advised Timo Werner not to “cry” about his missed chances after the striker squandered a big opportunity in the 1-1 draw at Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinal first leg on Tuesday.
Werner had a great chance to open the scoring in the early stages but his close-range effort was blocked by Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
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The striker has been guilty of missing a number of opportunities this season and was criticised by Germany coach Joachim Low after his miss in their shock defeat against Macedonia in March.
Tuchel defended Werner after the international break but following misses against Madrid and West Ham United, the Chelsea coach has urged his striker to not dwell on the mistake.
“He missed a big one in West Ham now, he missed another big one here,” he told a news conference after the game. “That does not help, but it also does not help to cry about it or to regret it all the time.
“There are millions of people who have harder things to deal with than chances that you miss, so this is the good thing about sports — nobody cares tomorrow.
“Today we were sad, we were angry in the moment, this is normal. He is angry. He is maybe disappointed. Tomorrow he has a free day and the next day he has to put his chin up. He is a professional guy, a top guy, he works hard.
“We will never stop pushing, we will never stop believing and I have the feeling that everybody accepts the situation like it is and as a striker it is easy, you score the next game and nobody speaks about it.”
Chelsea hold the advantage going into next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge after Christian Pulisic bagged a historic goal to become the first men’s United States international to score in a Champions League semifinal.
The Premier League side wasted a number of chances before Karim Benzema scored the equaliser and Tuchel wants his team to be more clinical in the return leg.
“Unfortunately we were a bit unlucky and lacked composure and decision making in the opponent’s box,” he added.
“Maybe we could have decided this match very, very early in the first half an hour when we were playing so, so strong.
“It is half time and we need to fight for every centimetre and advantage that we want to have, we need to fight and to deserve it.
“We only had two days in between two away games. Those games were every demanding physically and mentally so you could feel that in the decision making and some ball losses and acceleration.
“One more day would have been great for us. Now is the challenge to enjoy a free day then forget this result. I don’t feel that we are pointing fingers. The strikers are the first guys who want to score and be decisive and to do it for themselves.”