Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has urged his players to prove their status at Real Madrid this week.
The Blues boss hailed his side for rediscovering their poise in Saturday’s 6-0 Premier League thumping of Southampton.
Chelsea lost their Champions League quarter-final first leg 3-1 to Real on Wednesday, after being humbled 4-1 by Brentford the previous weekend.
Asked if a potent performance at Southampton can boost the Blues’ chances in Madrid, Tuchel replied: “It was necessary that we turned things around but we came from a long streak of games, then we had the international break and we had five days afterwards where we didn’t feel the same.
“So it was not a huge turnaround, it was not necessary to change everything, but it was the moment for us, I had the feeling, to tell the group the truth, my honest opinion, and tell them as a part of the group this is how I feel.
“And so the message was clear, and obviously everybody took it in the right way, I included myself in the message, and so it was necessary to step up.
“It is on the players to live up to what we play and they did it in an impressive manner.
“So it’s now a time to move on because we’ve found what makes us strong and it was another proof of that and we keep on going.”
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