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Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel said that he has the feeling that they are "strong enough to overcome Porto" ahead of his side's Champions League clash.
Chelsea is scheduled to play the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Porto on Thursday, with the second leg slated to take place on April 14. Chelsea, in the previous game, suffered a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the 19th-placed club West Brom in the Premier League. "They are obviously a very strong team in the Champions League so we respect them a lot. We come from a competition where you can lose 5-2 to the 19th team in the league so we are humble with how we approach every game and we prepare 100 per cent professionally and down-to-earth for every match," the club's official website quoted Tuchel as saying. "We play in the quarter-final of the Champions League and once you wish for an opponent, you will lose yourself in some crazy mind games. We have the feeling that we are strong enough to overcome Porto but it will be a tough match because I expect nothing else but the best Porto, a very experienced side and champions for many years in Portugal," he added. The Blues were defeated for the first time under the German on Saturday, with West Brom leaving Stamford Bridge with all three points. Tuchel said the defeat was a "big slap in the face". "I could not see it coming, even when I watched it after with the video analysis. We got a big slap in the face and if it was necessary to remind us how tough it is to have clean sheets and to keep on winning then we have to take it like this," he said. "It was only our responsibility and our fault that we lost this game so now we have to deal with the consequences. We hate to lose but in sport, it's about the reaction. We won together and now we bounce back together. This is the next step in our development and this is what we go for," Tuchel added. (ANI)
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