Head coach Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he was left full of "pride" after Chelsea almost pulled off one of the most famous comebacks in Champions League history.
Trailing 3-1 from the first leg at Stamford Bridge, the defending champions produced one of their best performances of the campaign as they established a 3-0 lead at the Santiago Bernabeu with 15 minutes remaining.
However, in response to Mason Mount, Antonio Rudiger and Timo Werner all getting on the scoresheet, Rodrygo took the tie to extra time before Karim Benzema sealed a 5-4 aggregate win for Los Blancos.
Although he was naturally disappointed after the match in Spain, Tuchel insists that his Chelsea squad should have "no regrets", even if mistakes cost them an iconic result on Tuesday night.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Tuchel said: "We were unlucky. That is why we are disappointed. We got beaten by individual quality and conversion. We made two mistakes, two ball losses. We deserved to go through after this match today. It was not meant to be.
"We have to reduce our amount of mistakes and we could not reduce them to a minimum over the two legs. We had two crucial ball losses. There are no regrets. These are the kind of defeat you can take with pride as a sportsman."
Real progress into the semi-finals, where they will face the winner of the tie between Manchester City and Atletico Madrid. body check tags ::
