Confidence the key as Chelsea face European football’s toughest test

Thomas Tuchel knows what it will take.

"We feel we can do this," he said on the eve of the biggest game of Chelsea's season, a Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid.

"We feel we can be stronger. Now we have rested players, we had three days in between games for rest, the challenge is to keep the intensity going throughout the whole match.

"It is a semi-final. The pressure is on, it’s a knockout game and so to arrive with a level of belief and confidence is necessary or we will have no chance."

Christian Pulisic's away goal in Valdebebas a week ago has Tuchel’s side with the advantage as they look to progress to a first Champions League final since they won this most famous tournament of all back in 2012.

It won't be easy, however. A game against the 13-time winners rarely is. Chelsea learned that to their cost last week when a dominant start and that crucial away strike were soon cancelled out by a thumping Karim Benzema equaliser.

Zinedine Zidane's side encountered the problem, suffered through it before finding a solution and coming out better on the other side.

Los Blancos have been doing this for decades - you don't win three European crowns in a row without some sort of fighting spirit - and they will be full of belief that they can indeed come to London on Wednesday and emerge as victors on the other side.

A goalless draw would see the Blues through to Istanbul, but any idea that his side will play for that was sharply dismissed by the manager in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

"The challenge is to forget the result," Tuchel added. "We will clearly prepare the match. I don't know any other way to prepare the match, to go out, to be our best.

"If we are at our best. It is a no-brainer to go for a win. This club is about winning."

Tuchel knows all about reaching the final of this competition - he did it 12 months ago in charge of Paris Saint-Germain - but it means a lot to Chelsea, too, with that emotional night in Munich nine years ago still talked about to this day.

It was owner Roman Abramovich's dream to win the European Cup ever since he arrived at Stamford Bridge, and the winning mentality that came with him back in 2003 still remains all these years later.

"I never felt like this competition is our Holy Grail since I arrived but I felt that this club is about winning," Tuchel added. "It does something to you, you feel it.

"We are very competitive, very serious about any game, this is what I like. I never felt we had a Holy Grail to reach the final or winning the Champions League is the 'only' target.

"I have a strong feeling that every win counts, the club demands it that we win any game, no matter who is on the other side of the pitch."

Should they overcome Real Madrid and make it to the final they of course would only be the second Chelsea side to do so this week.

Emma Hayes guided the women's team to a first Champions League final - where they will meet Barcelona - with a dramatic win over Bayern Munich on Sunday, an achievement Tuchel is all too keen to replicate.

"We are very happy, we are one club," he said. "Hopefully they can finish the job."

He and his team have a job of their own to finish first.