Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has said that he would prefer to face Real Madrid over Liverpool in the Champions League semi-finals, having seen his own side reach the last four on Tuesday.
The German coach has guided the Blues to semi-finals of the European competition for the first time in seven years after a 2-1 aggregate victory against Porto.
Mehdi Taremi scored the only goal of the second leg, which was played on neutral soil in Spain as a result of coronavirus restrictions, but the late strike wasn’t enough to hurt the blues after they had beaten Porto 2-0 in the first leg.
Liverpool or Real Madrid will await them in the next stage, with the Spanish club leading the Premier League champions 3-1 on aggregate.
While Jurgen Klopp’s side will hope to turn things around at Anfield, Tuchel conceded he prefers to avoid teams from the same league in European knockout matches.
‘I don’t wish for nothing but in general I like it in Champions League not to play teams from your own league,’ the Chelsea boss told BT Sport.
‘Because it gets a bit more the feeling of the European competition but that’s the only thing. ‘Whover deserves it – I think the game is far from over – but I will watch it for sure.
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‘It’s a pleasure to watch it as semi-finalists, a great achievement. Tomorrow we will watch these games and there is nothing decided yet. Everything is possible.
‘Liverpool is very strong at home, the Premier League is strong. We take what we get, it’s a good situation for us.’
However, Mason Mount remained tight-lipped over his preference, telling BT Sport: ‘We’ll take anyone. ‘We’re ready for the fight. We’re ready for the battle. We get to sit down and watch it and analyse it. We’ll be ready for anyone.’
