Bus delay dented Dortmund's Champions League qualification chances, claims Thomas Tuchel
Wednesday 19 April 2017 23:39, UK
Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel claims the team's bus delay on Wednesday seriously dented their chances of turning their Champions League quarter-final clash around against Monaco.
A week after a bomb attack on their bus en route to the first leg in Germany left defender Marc Bartra with a broken wrist and forced the match to be postponed 24 hours, Dortmund were held up by police in Monaco ahead of the second leg on Wednesday evening.
That forced the match at the Stade Louis II to kick off five minutes later than planned.
"The bus was supposed to depart at 7.15pm. Everyone was on the bus and the police were ready to accompany us, but then we were told we had to wait," Tuchel said, after the 3-1 defeat which saw them go out 6-3 on aggregate.
"We stayed there for 16 or 17 minutes and when we tried to find out why, they just said it was for security reasons.
"It was the worst thing that could happen a week after the attack, everyone was on the bus ready to go but we were not allowed to.
"You come into such a game trying to have a clear mind to go out and turn the tie around, but with just an hour and a quarter to go before the match, we were not able to think about football at all and it wasn't ideal."
Tuchel also admits his team simply did not play well enough against Monaco to merit progressing to the semi-finals.
He said: "We started well with one or two dangerous moves where we found some space and then conceded an unlucky goal.
"That destroyed our belief a bit. Then we made too many mistakes in our passing and positioning.
"In the second half we tried to rally again, but we were never able to follow up on our goal. We have made great games with a back three, especially in the Champions League, but we were not good enough.
"Altogether, our performance was not up to it."
