Ralf Rangnick labelled Harry Maguire's performance in Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Leicester City "flawless" after the defender was booed while playing for England, as Bruno Fernandes suggested the media were partly responsible.
Interim United manager Rangnick also praised the reception given to Maguire by the Old Trafford faithful, with the 29-year-old having been booed during England's friendly against Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
Maguire has attracted criticism for his displays in a United defence that has kept just seven Premier League clean sheets this season, a tally worse than nine other top-flight sides.
Rangnick, however, was impressed with Maguire's solid display against his former team on Saturday.
"The reaction of our supporters [to Maguire] was as it always is," Rangnick told Sky Sports.
"They are one of the best [fanbases], if not the best, in England.
"Harry played well, he had a flawless game today both defensively and offensively. It was a solid performance from him."
Midfielder Fernandes came to his team-mate's defence, claiming the media's coverage of Maguire's displays could have contributed to the jeers heard at Wembley.
"It's tough that your own country boos you in a game for the national team," Fernandes told Sky Sports. "It's maybe because of the media.
"It wasn't because of his performance, he played really well in that game. Sometimes the media should think a little bit more when they do things."
Maguire's display may have been perfect in the eyes of Rangnick, but it did not help United claim three much-needed points against Leicester.
Kelechi Iheanacho opened the scoring for the visitors before Fred equalised, though VAR spared United's blushes when James Maddison had a goal disallowed in a game that ultimately finished 1-1.
United have won just one of their last six games in all competitions and are three points behind fourth-placed Arsenal having played two games more.
Rangnick's team are also winless in their last four league meetings with Leicester, having won seven of the previous eight.
Though their chances of securing Champions League qualification look slim, with West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham all still to play, Rangnick has pledged to fight hard.
"The second half was the better one," he said. "I think for most of the first half we were struggling to find our rhythm, maybe because of the long [international] break.
"The second half was better, but giving a goal away on a transitional moment didn't make it easy.
"I think the reaction after the goal we conceded was good, we came back and scored a goal, then had two or three good moments where we could have scored the winning goal, but we didn't.
"In the end we are not happy with the result, but the second half was okay.
"As long as it [fourth place] is possible mathematically, it is possible. It is our job and duty to do our best to finish on the best possible note."
Iga Swiatek scored a sensational win against Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final and predicted it would mark "the start of a great rivalry".
A 6-4 6-0 victory for Swiatek means the new WTA number one has won three consecutive WTA 1000 titles, becoming the first player to do so at the beginning of a season.
Saturday's success sealed the 'sunshine double' as the 20-year-old captured the Indian Wells and Miami titles back to back, becoming the youngest player to achieve that feat, and only the fourth in history, after Steffi Graf, who did it twice, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka.
Addressing Osaka, Swiatek said: "I wanted to say I'm pretty glad we could play this match, and I think it's the start of a great rivalry.
"You're really an inspiration and this sport is better with you, so keep going."
Osaka is battling her way back into the sport after documenting her struggles with mental health and depression, and her ranking stood at 77 before this tournament.
She was reduced to tears in Indian Wells after being heckled by a spectator, and the Japanese star, a former WTA number one, referenced that incident in a post-match speech after losing to Swiatek.
Thanking her support team, Osaka said they were "the ones who keep pushing me forward after the things that happened two weeks ago – they're the rock that stays by my side".
Although Swiatek beat her resoundingly in the final, these two appear to be close allies, with a meal they enjoyed together in Australia in January 2020 having sparked a friendship.
"I want to congratulate Iga," said Osaka. "I was just thinking yesterday about when I had that dinner with you in Australia, and watching your journey is really incredible, and I hope you continue having fun. Apparently we're tied 1-1 now."
Osaka, who beat Swiatek in Toronto three years ago in their only past meeting, said her conqueror was "an incredible, amazing person", and assured her own supporters she had been having "a lot of fun".
"I hope I can keep working hard and get more opportunities to be in a situation like this again," Osaka added. "Just to be in the final means a lot to me."
That is both pertinent and refreshing given Osaka's future in tennis has appeared in doubt during the past year.
Swiatek, meanwhile, goes from strength to strength. From her French Open final triumph in October 2020 to this latest win, she has won each of the six finals she has contested. Across the last four, Swiatek has won four 6-0 'bagel' sets.
Doing the Indian Wells and Miami double, after previously taking the Doha title this year, shows Swiatek to be a worthy number one.
"I didn't think that was possible," she told Amazon Prime, assessing her back-to-back wins in America. "I'm trying to see what my limits are, and when I was coming from Indian Wells, I said to my coach, 'Did you ever have a situation like that where a player plays the final at Indian Wells and has to play the next match in three days?'. He said that I shouldn't worry and we can do it."
Swiatek's winning streak stands at 17 matches, her record for the season is 26-3, and she has won 20 consecutive sets. Her new number one status will be confirmed on Monday, when the newly retired Ash Barty is taken off the WTA list, and Swiatek hopes to stay there.
"We're going to see. The end of the season is still a long way," she said. "I hope I'm going to keep doing well with the pressure."
Thomas Tuchel denied Chelsea's upcoming Champions League clash with Real Madrid provided a distraction after watching his team fall to a 4-1 loss to Brentford on Saturday.
The Blues opened the scoring three minutes after half-time through Antonio Rudiger, but a stunning Brentford comeback condemned them to their first Premier League defeat since January 15, as Christian Eriksen and Yoane Wissa added to Vitaly Janelt's brace.
Chelsea's remarkable collapse saw them concede four or more goals at home to a newly promoted side for just the second time in Premier League history, with the previous occasion also coming under Tuchel's management in a 5-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion in April 2021.
With the European champions due to host Madrid in a huge quarter-final contest on Wednesday, Tuchel made four changes to his side, but was adamant that nobody at Stamford Bridge had looked any further ahead than their clash with the Bees.
"We selected the team because we thought it was the best team against Brentford," Tuchel insisted. "Not with half an eye, or one percent of one, on Real Madrid.
"It's more difficult for us than them to play as the underdog and be well prepared for this match. We are well prepared, but had one half of a training session [after the return of Chelsea's internationals].
"It is more difficult, but in the context of all this I am okay with the first half. The half-time speech was like this, a reminder to keep on going.
"We started very well [in the second half]. I did not see the distraction there, so why should we be distracted and think about Real Madrid when we are one goal ahead?
"Maybe it was the general feeling that now we are ahead and have it [which led to the turnaround], and we got punished for that."
Brentford's stunning triumph represents the joint-biggest away Premier League victory managed by a newly promoted team against a side starting the day in the top three of the table, alongside Leeds United's 3-0 win at Aston Villa in October 2020.
Despite accusing his team of having "stopped defending" in the immediate aftermath of the defeat, Tuchel said he would not make a "drama" of the shock result, putting it down as a one-off.
"It seems like it [a blip]," he added. "After so many wins and so many good results, I will now refuse to make a drama out of it.
"Why should we? Brentford made a lot of the ten minutes we gave them. After the third goal, we had a disallowed goal, a pressing situation against the goalkeeper, and another big chance from Kai Havertz.
"We missed all three of them and there was a feeling that it wasn't our day, so it's a mixture of everything.
"We will dig in and try to find out why it was like this. It's hard to take because it's very unusual for us, what happened today. [But] we will refocus on Monday."
A strong bowling performance from Lockie Ferguson saw the Gujarat Titans secure their second win of this year's Indian Premier League as they overcame the Delhi Capitals by 14 runs in Pune.
The New Zealander took 4-28 from his four overs as the Titans kept their opponents well away from their set target of 172.
Their own innings did not get off to the best of starts, with Matthew Wade (1) out in the first over to Mustafizur Rahman as he tried to scoop the ball over his shoulder, but only edging through to Rishabh Pant.
Shubman Gill did lead the way with the bat, though, hitting 84 from 46 balls, accompanied by solid efforts from Hardik Pandya (31) and David Miller (20) as the Titans ended on 171-6 from their 20 overs.
After losing Tim Seifert (3) early on, the Capitals never really looked like reaching the target, with Pant (43) the only man to score more than 25, before he became another of Ferguson's victims.
Delhi suffered their first defeat of the season after only reaching 157-9 from their 20 overs, while Gujarat keep up their perfect start to life in the IPL.
Gill improves on previous outing
Shubman Gill will have been relieved to see his team-mates score the runs to seal the win in their opening game against the Lucknow Super Giants after he fell for a third-ball duck.
However, he more than made up for it here with a tremendous knock of 84, including six fours and four sixes to help his team post an ultimately winning total.
Fergie time for Lockie
Ferguson set the tone by taking the wicket of Prithvi Shaw (10) with his first ball, before also picking up the crucial scalps of Mandeep Singh (18), Pant and Axar Patel (8).
Much like Gill, it was a big improvement from his 0-24 in the Titans' first game against the Super Giants.
Babar Azam scored another century as Pakistan beat Australia by nine wickets in Saturday's third ODI to claim a 2-1 series victory.
The Pakistan skipper registered triple figures in the hosts' thrilling second ODI win on Thursday and followed that up with an unbeaten 105 in the decider at Gaddafi Stadium.
Pakistan bowled their opponents all out for 210 and comfortably chased down their target in 37.5 overs thanks to Babar (105 not out) and Imam-ul-Haq (89 not out).
It marks the first time Pakistan have beaten Australia in back-to-back home ODIs since 1982, and the first time the Aussies have lost successive games in the format since 2020.
Aaron Finch and Travis Head were both removed by Pakistan for ducks and, while Ben McDermott (36) and top-scorer Alex Carey chipped away, the latter could only reach 56.
Haris Rauf in particular impressed with the ball, finishing with figures of 3-39, though Sean Abbott's 49 near the end of the innings did at least give Australia something to defend.
Zakhar Zaman was dismissed by pacer Nathan Ellis in the fourth over, but he had put on 17 runs by that point and Pakistan were 24-1.
Indeed, that proved to be the only wicket Australia managed to take as Babar and Imam-ul-Haq shared a 190-run partnership.
Imam's unbeaten 89 included six fours and one six, while Babar hit 12 fours to seal a dominant victory in Lahore.
Babar leads the way
Following this latest impressive display of leadership, Babar has now registered four centuries and three half centuries from nine ODI innings in Pakistan.
The 27-year-old has 16 ODI hundreds overall in 84 innings, second among Pakistan players only to Saeed Anwar, who has 20 in 244 innings.
Australia struggle with bat and ball
Australia used seven different bowlers through the Pakistan innings and none of them were able to make the key breakthrough by removing Babar or Imam.
The tone had been set a lot earlier in the day when, having been put in to bat first, the tourists lost Head, their highest run-scorer of the series, to the very first ball.
Jose Mourinho confronted a journalist ahead of Roma's visit to Sampdoria on Sunday, saying the reporter "s***" himself in front of him.
Journalist Alessandro Austini recently criticised Mourinho on Italian radio and the former Manchester United and Real Madrid boss took him to task at his pre-match media conference on Saturday.
Mourinho, 59, said he expected a tougher line of questioning from Austini and accused the journalist of cowering in front of him.
In response to his question, Mourinho said: "I was expecting a much more aggressive question, more negative and violent after I listened to you on the radio.
"I didn't expect such an easy question. My conclusion is that you are much more aggressive and violent on the radio but when you come here you s*** yourself a little bit in front of me."
Roma sit seventh in Serie A ahead of Sunday's visit to Sampdoria, having amassed 51 points from their 30 games.
They are unbeaten in their last nine Italian top-flight matches (W5 D4), winning three of their last four. They last went 10 unbeaten in a row in a single campaign in 2015-16 (17 back then, under Luciano Spalletti).
Iga Swiatek sealed the 'sunshine double' with a trouncing of Naomi Osaka as the new world number one added the Miami Open title to her Indian Wells triumph.
Twenty-year-old Swiatek will succeed the retired Ash Barty on top of the WTA rankings on Monday, and she has reached the top spot for the first time in staggering style.
A 6-4 6-0 victory against former number one Osaka in Saturday's final made Swiatek the first player to win the first three WTA 1000 events in a season.
Those are the highest value tournaments on the tour outside the grand slams, and Swiatek has chopped down the fields in Doha, Indian Wells and now Miami in staggering fashion.
Her winning streak stands at 17 matches, her record for the season is 26-3, and she has won 20 consecutive sets.
Swiatek set the tone for the match when she broke for a 3-2 lead in the opening set, whipping an exquisite backhand winner across court to seize the initiative.
She had a look-in next time around too, with Osaka doing well to fend off a break point and keep the Pole within touching distance.
The first set was secured when Osaka hoisted an aggressive forehand service return long, and that ramped up the pressure at the beginning of the second
In a flash, Swiatek earned herself three breakpoints, and although Osaka saved the first with a drive volley, the Japanese player sent a forehand into the net on the next point
Swiatek was displaying some startling shot-making, and a cross-court forehand winner in the third game was a thing of beauty, helping her establish a double break.
Osaka is battling her way back into the sport after documenting her struggles with mental health and depression, and her ranking stood at 77 before this tournament.
By reaching the final she proved her talent remains formidable, but Swiatek at present is on another level to her tour rivals, and a clinical sweep of the second set was complete when Osaka hooked a forehand wide.
Only three players had previously secured this back-to-back double in Miami and Indian Wells: Steffi Graf in 1994 and 1996, Kim Clijsters in 2005 and Victoria Azarenka in 2016. Swiatek is the youngest to achieve the feat.
Real Madrid secured a hard-fought 2-1 win at Celta Vigo on Saturday as Karim Benzema's two penalties extended their lead at the top of LaLiga to 12 points.
The victory owed immense credit to the fact Madrid were awarded three spot-kicks at Estadio de Balaidos, with Benzema missing once but making sure with his other two attempts.
Nolito had equalised Benzema's first penalty early in the second half and the hosts pushed to win the game themselves, only to be undone at the other end.
Celta Vigo were furious with the referee, particularly for the third spot-kick given just minutes after France international Benzema had seen one saved by Matias Dituro, but Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will not mind as he saw his team return to winning ways in the league following their Clasico humiliation last time out.
Madrid had their first penalty in the 18th minute when Nolito clipped the ankle of Eder Militao, with Benzema calmly rolling his effort to Dituro's left.
The hosts had made a good start despite the penalty, and Iago Aspas nearly equalised with a free-kick, only for Thibaut Courtois to make a superb save diving to his right, denying the former Liverpool man.
Celta Vigo thought they were level when Thiago Galhardo's header hit the inside of the post and rolled into the far corner of the net, but Aspas was judged to have been offside as well as stopping David Alaba from clearing the ball off the line.
Nolito made up for the penalty concession with the equaliser early in the second half as he swept home a cross from the left by Javi Galan.
Madrid had another chance from the spot just after the hour when Rodrygo was felled by Jeison Murillio, but Dituro made the save to deny Benzema down to his right.
However, the goalkeeper could do nothing about Los Blancos' third penalty of the game, with Benzema slotting this time after Ferland Mendy went over the trailing foot of Kevin Vazquez.
Manchester United's hopes of finishing in the Premier League top four were further dented as they were held 1-1 by Leicester City, who were denied a winner by VAR.
United were without Cristiano Ronaldo due to illness and Ralf Rangnick's decision to go without a recognised striker did not pay off for large parts of Saturday's contest at Old Trafford.
The hosts found themselves behind when former Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho headed in from a James Maddison cross, but Fred levelled just three minutes later.
Maddison thought he had struck a winner 10 minutes from time, though it was ruled out for an Iheanacho foul on Raphael Varane in the build-up, following the intervention of VAR.
Harvey Barnes was wayward on a few occasions in an underwhelming first half that saw United go closest to scoring when Kasper Schmeichel stretched out a leg to deny Bruno Fernandes.
Rangnick held off from changing things too drastically until introducing Marcus Rashford for Scott McTominay with 55 minutes played, coinciding with the game sparking into life.
Leicester opened the scoring when Iheanacho got in front of substitute Alex Telles and guided in Maddison's delivery.
United's response was a quick one, with Fred lashing into the roof of the net after Schmeichel helped Fernandes' powerful drive into the midfielder's path.
Leicester thought they had won it when Maddison beat David de Gea at his front post, only for VAR to adjudge Iheanacho had kicked Varane's leg from under him.
United came close to making their good fortune count, but Jadon Sancho snatched at a chance before James Justin denied Rashford a stoppage-time tap-in.
Pep Guardiola has told Manchester City they must not expect Liverpool to drop any points before the end of the season – apart from when they visit the Etihad Stadium next weekend.
The City manager saw his side win 2-0 at Burnley on Saturday to return to the top of the Premier League, after being deposed for a couple of hours by Jurgen Klopp's Reds.
First-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan gave City the points at Turf Moor, with this their third successive 2-0 victory over Burnley.
"We got the points and there are eight games left... 24 [points]," said Guardiola.
"Hopefully Liverpool are going to lose against us, but apart from that I don't think they're going to drop points. We have to feel this pressure, live it and handle it. We have to win eight games, otherwise we will not be champions."
Guardiola's objective is to keep the minds of his players away from the prospects of winning trophies, and drilled to focus on the importance of the next game. For City, the next task now is a Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Atletico Madrid on Tuesday.
"We have to feel the pressure," Guardiola said. "We have to concentrate on the Champions League, then we have five days to prepare for Liverpool."
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss added: "To be honest, we don't speak much about being contenders to be champions this season."
City were always expected to come out on top at Turf Moor against a relegation-threatened side, given they had won their past nine meetings with Burnley in all competitions by an aggregate score of 32-1.
Guardiola lamented City not bolstering their goal difference even further as they failed to put away any of their 12 shots in the second half, while he said Burnley's grass was long and made his team's task a challenge.
Raheem Sterling provided assists for both goals, and his performance pleased Guardiola, as did the fact the forward got to captain England against Ivory Coast during the international break.
"Raheem came back from the national team, with the boost of a goal and being the captain for England," Guardiola said. "We saw today how decisive he was with all the decisions, and he played with the assists from the right side, and showed speed and everything.
“I have the feeling he is arriving in a really good moment.”
It was a win that contained several City landmarks, with De Bruyne becoming the 10th City player to reach 200 Premier League appearances, with only Fernandinho (140) picking up more victories in his first 200 Premier League games for the club than the Belgian (139).
Gundogan's goal was his 34th in the Premier League for City, making him the outright highest-scoring German in the competition's history, overtaking former Arsenal playmaker Mesut Ozil.
Miami Dolphins wide receiver DeVante Parker is reportedly on his way to New England Patriots.
Sources have informed ESPN's Adam Schefter that Parker will be traded to the Patriots along with a 2022 fifth-round draft pick in exchange for a 2023 third-round pick.
New England are set to receive a compensatory third-round pick next year after losing J.C. Jackson in free agency.
The Patriots are well stocked with wide receivers, as Parker would join Jakobi Meyers, Kendrick Bourne, Nelson Agholor, N'Keal Harry, Ty Montgomery, Kristian Wilkerson and Malcolm Perry in New England.
Parker finished last season with 40 catches for 515 yards and two touchdowns from 10 appearances.
Miami last month pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire Tyreek Hill from the Kansas City Chiefs.
Keith Yandle's NHL-record consecutive regular-season games played streak is ending at 989, as the Philadelphia Flyers are making the 35-year-old defenceman a healthy scratch for Saturday's meeting with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
This will be the first regular-season game Yandle will miss since March 22, 2009, when he played for the Phoenix Coyotes.
Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo said it was an "organisational decision" to not dress Yandle so the team can give ice time to some of its younger players. Philadelphia are 21-35-11 and have already been eliminated from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
"He received it exactly the way you'd expect Keith Yandle to handle it. Obviously disappointed, which you'd expect from a competitor," Yeo said.
"My only hope is that he recognises how amazing it is what he's done. For him, it's disappointing, no question. No way does this diminish what he's accomplished. It is remarkable."
Yandle broke the league's consecutive games played streak record just over two months ago, surpassing Doug Jarvis' mark of 964 on January 25. But in the 24 games he has played in since then, the veteran has just one goal and one assist with a minus-16 +/- rating.
Yandle is in the midst of the worst season of his 16-year career with one goal and 14 assists and a league-low minus-39 rating in 67 games.
"I don't really know if it's hit me completely," Yandle said. "I don't know yet, I don't know when it will. It's kind of one of those things during it, I didn't really try to think about it too much just to kind of go out and play. Maybe now the next day or two it might hit me.
"Obviously something I take a lot of pride in. I'm fortunate to play one game in this league. I say it all the time, I've been blessed to be in this league as long as I have. I owe pretty much my whole life to this league. It's been a great journey too.
"You look back and you think about your first game, and then it's one of those things that the last couple days have been a lot of reflecting and I'm not really a guy who reflects too much."
Yandle's streak is in danger of being broken next season by Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel, who passed Jarvis' mark last weekend and has played in 968 consecutive regular-season games.
Bayern Munich could pay a high price for their substitution blunder at Freiburg after briefly playing with 12 men in Saturday's Bundesliga game.
The leaders were 3-1 ahead and on the way to a 4-1 away victory when head coach Julian Nagelsmann elected to make a late double change, removing Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman and sending on Marcel Sabitzer and Niklas Sule.
However, Coman did not realise he was being replaced after his number was not raised, and he did not leave the field immediately, with referee Christian Dingert resuming the game before this was noticed.
The game continued for several seconds before being halted as all concerned attempted to make sense of the situation, and the incident may even see Bayern forfeit the win.
German football association (DFB) rules appear to suggest Freiburg could be declared 2-0 winners.
According to paragraph 17, article 4 of the rulebook: "If a player was not eligible to play or be fielded in a game, the team that culpably fielded this player lost the game 2-0 and the opponent won 2-0."
This rule is only to be deployed if the match is allowed to proceed by the referee, as it was on this occasion. A 12th player on the field would be considered ineligible to take part.
Nagelsmann said of the bizarre incident: "The wrong number was on the board, not Kingsley's 11. Mistakes happen. From the point of view of both teams, from the point of view of a fair sport, there was nothing that speaks against it being fair. You play a good game here and then everyone stands there and asks about the rules."
Freiburg coach Christian Streich, appearing alongside Nagelsmann at a post-match news conference, said rules should not be ignored.
Streich said: "I'm sure there won't be an objection, an appeal, from us, but there are rules to be followed.
"There is a rule and there's plenty of speculation, but we have a rulebook and that's what we have to abide by. Everything else, I'm not going to say anything about it, because there's nothing for me to say."
Referee Dingert, quoted by TZ, said: "It was a totally confused situation: It was a double change from Bayern Munich. An incorrect number was initially displayed, which is why the player Coman did not feel addressed with the number 11.
"That's why a 12th player was on the field for a short time, which shouldn't be. We noticed and then stopped the game.
"It's annoying for us because of course that scene is the focus now. We will note this in the game report. The game had 12 [Bayern] players for 15, 16 seconds. No goal happened. We will note that, everything else will be decided by the DFB."
Leon Goretzka, on his return from injury, scored Bayern's opening goal, with Serge Gnabry, Coman and Sabitzer also on target. Nils Petersen's reply was his 100th goal for Freiburg in all competitions.
Victory kept Bayern sitting pretty at the top of the Bundesliga, taking them nine points ahead of Borussia Dortmund who were not in action until later on Saturday against RB Leipzig.
Thomas Tuchel said Chelsea "stopped defending" as Brentford ran riot in a sensational 4-1 derby victory at Stamford Bridge.
Brentford stunned the European champions on Saturday, emphatically securing a first win over their west London rivals since 1939.
Antonio Rudiger's long-range thunderbolt put the Blues in front early in the second half, but Thomas Frank's side hit back with three goals in the space of 10 minutes.
Vitaly Janelt struck twice either side of Christian Eriksen's first goal for Brentford and Yoane Wissa added a fourth in the closing stages just after coming on.
Chelsea had won five consecutive games since Roman Abramovich put the club up for sale, but they were picked off time and again as rampant Brentford moved 11 points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.
Blues head coach Tuchel felt his side's performance was out of character ahead of a Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid on Wednesday.
He told BBC Sport: "Nobody saw it coming, especially after going 1-0 ahead. It was very untypical of us. But we stopped defending. We were not aware of enough of the danger, were sloppy with the defending and got punished.
"They made the most of it in those 10 minutes. Right after their third goal we had 10 minutes where we had big, big chances and we missed them.
"They were lucky and clinical enough to get three goals. We did not defend like it is needed to in the Premier League and got punished."
Tuchel had expected third-placed Chelsea to be vulnerable in their first game back after the international break.
He explained: "The start was not a surprise because we came from all over the world from national duty so I expected it to take time. The first 25 minutes we looked a bit leggy and needed to find rhythm.
"The opponent defended deep with 10 men behind the ball, so you need a shot or action to open the game, which we did. Then we gave the game away very cheaply."
Chelsea will now regroup before doing battle with LaLiga leaders Madrid at Stamford Bridge in midweek.
"It is not about Real Madrid. It is about us. It is one day off now and on Monday we start again," he said.
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