Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has explained the reason for recording success at the west London club despite coming halfway through the season, culminating in wining the Champions League.

The German has been speaking ahead of the UEFA Super Cup clash on Wednesday against Europa League winners Villarreal which is taking place on Wednesday in Belfast.

“How did I start so well? Maybe I don’t know,” Tuchel explained ahead of the Super Cup against Villarreal on Wednesday.

“Before, I would have said it’s never an ideal scenario because you come in [halfway through the season], but maybe it was a good thing.

“Finally, I found a well-structured club, a top organisation, a very open and ambitious team, and a lot of support at the highest level, and that made things very easy for us.

“[Playing with a back three] was a good fit with all of our players, and our midfield players.

“We decided very early that we wanted to always have two of our three midfield players on the pitch – that means N’Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic.

“That’s the approach: to do what’s good for the team and to do what suits the players’ characteristics, and we had the feeling throughout the whole journey that this was a good fit.”