Thomas Tuchel’s experience of taking Paris Saint-Germain to the Champions League final last season could boost Chelsea’s chances in the competition, according to Petr Cech.
Since taking over from Frank Lampard, the German manager is yet to taste any defeat in his first 14 matches in charge at Stamford Bridge.
Tuchel has also led his team to the Champions League quarter-finals after their 3-0 aggregate win over La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.
Tuchel has experience of going deep into the competition as he took former team PSG to last campaign’s final where they were beaten 1-0 by Bayern.
Chelsea will face Porto in the quarter-finals, and Cech, who is now the club’s technical and performance director, believes Tuchel’s previous encounters in Europe can be very useful.
‘As a club, we have the history of being in the Champions League and European Cups, there are still a lot of players in our squad who went through it, who won the European Cup and they will help as well,’ Cech told Chelsea TV.
‘The experience of the manager going through European ties all the way to the final is something that might add and help everybody.
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‘We obviously hope he will take advantage of our draw and they will progress and we’ll at least get into the further stages of the competition.
‘Once you’re in the competition you always want to try and win it.’
On facing Porto in the quarter-finals, Cech said ‘We respect the opponent and as well, they were good in the group with Manchester City and they obviously managed to go and beat Juventus which is another giant in terms of European football so we have to respect that.
‘We have our confidence and we know the strength of our team. Hopefully we can go through.’
