Tempers flared after Porto narrowly beat Chelsea in the UCL quarter-final second leg. The Blues advanced to the semi-finals on aggregate, but their head coach Thomas Tuchel was accused of insulting his opposite number after the match.
FC Porto crashed out of the UEFA Champions League after a quarter-final defeat to Chelsea. The Portuguese outfit won 1-0 on the night, thanks to a late goal by the Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi. However, having lost the first leg 2-0, they were knocked out of the tournament, on aggregate.
The two coaches clashed at the full-time whistle. The Porto boss accused Tuchel of insulting him after the match, stating that he did not know the reason behind the German’s reaction.
I was insulted by this man who is next door [Tuchel]. My English is not perfect, there is no point in talking about it. There was no exchange of words because I was focused on the game, I don’t know why he reacted. But I didn’t understand it very well.
I heard some insults, but it’s gone … it’s not pretty and my irritation, in the end, had to do with it. I didn’t even speak to him.”
Conceicao said, as quoted by A Bola.
Meanwhile, when quizzed about the incident, Tuchel played it down, claiming that no harm was done.
It was just a little argument with me and the coach and everybody was following me suddenly. I thought it was between me and the coach, but obviously, it was not so. But no harm done there.
Tuchel explained.
Tuchel’s Chelsea brought with them a two-goal advantage to Seville. His side had beaten Porto last week, thanks to goals from Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell. While the first leg was also played at Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Chelsea were the nominated ‘away’ side. As such, their two-goal advantage held even more significance, courtesy of UEFA’s away goal rule.
Porto needed to score at least twice in the second leg, without conceding another, to force extra time. The Dragoes came fighting out of the blocks, taking the game to Chelsea. However, they were unable to create many clear-cut chances – a condition that hurt them in the first leg.
While neither side created many chances, those that came fell Porto’s way. Taremi tested Eduoard Mendy in the Chelsea goal with a tame header first, but the Senegalese was equal to it. Antonio Rudiger then headed a corner onto Matias Uribe. However, the Colombian could not react in time.
The game’s only goal came with less than a minute left to play. Taremi converted a cross from Nanu via a stunning bicycle kick. The Iranian shocked the Chelsea defence with his acrobatic effort, who could just stand and watch the ball nestle into the corner.
Nevertheless, Taremi’s goal came too late into the tie to have any significance and Chelsea progressed to the semi-finals of the competition.
The Blues will face either Real Madrid or Liverpool next. Los Blancos are leading the tie 3-1 and play the Reds in the second leg today. A Vinicius Jr double helped them beat Jurgen Klopp’s side in the home leg, but Mohamed Salah did pull back the crucial away goal.
In the other Champions League fixture of the night, Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint Germain 1-0. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting scored yet again, but his goal wasn’t enough to guarantee the champions’ passage to the semi-finals. They lost the tie on away goals.
