Thomas Tuchel heaps praise on Chelsea goalscorer Hakim Ziyech following Atletico Madrid win

Thomas Tuchel believes Hakim Ziyech deserved his goal during Chelsea’s 2-0 win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night in the Champions League.

Chelsea sealed a 2-0 win on the night, 3-0 on aggregate, as they comfortably saw off Diego Simeone’s side in west London to progress into the quarter-finals.

Emerson Palmieri wrapped the tie up in stoppage time with his first touch after coming on moments before, but it was Ziyech who started the proceedings with a finish from close range in the 34th minute.

He started in the front three with Mason Mount suspended and he rewarded Tuchel with a final display.

Tuchel was extremely pleased with his performance as Ziyech bagged his first goal at home since joining last summer.

The Chelsea boss said: “He played for that reason, he did it with Ajax so we chose him for that, he has good experience in the round of 16, he knows how it feels to arrive in the knockout round and to go through the last eight.

“The first reason he deserves it, this was the second and the third, we missed Mason Mount, we wanted to replace the intensity and work-rate with Hakim

“We faced a midfield of three with a lot of quality and we wanted three midfielders minimum against the ball to give reliable work-rate into this team, this is what he always does.

“He suffers a little bit with our style, he needs to adapt to the structure and be more reliable with the ball and he needs to find a better rhythm when to taking risks and not to take risks but I am super happy, this is reliable from him

“He is a hard-working guy upfront and I am happy that he could finish the transition with Kai and Timo, the three were all involved and it was a nice and decisive goal.”

Hakim Ziyech delivered his positive verdict post-match on scoring his first goal and on Chelsea’s performance. 

READ MORE: Thomas Tuchel hails ‘unbelievable’ Chelsea performance following Atletico Madrid win

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