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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was delighted with the performance of Hakim Ziyech for their Champions League win against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Ziyech struck in the 2-0 win as Chelsea qualified for the quarter-finals 3-0 on aggregate. Afterwards, Tuchel explained his decision to start with Ziyech and what he instructed the midfielder ahead of kickoff.
Tuchel also detailed what he wants from Ziyech and where he believes the Morocco international can improve.
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.”