Thomas Tuchel stunned by Chelsea's Champions League defeat in Zagreb

Manager admits the Blues produced another 'underperformance' in opening group game

Dinamo Zagreb's Dino Peric celebrates with Dominik Livakovic after the 1-0 Champions League victory against Chelsea on September 6, which turned out to be Thomas Tuchel's last match as manager. Reuters

Dinamo Zagreb's Josip Misic celebrates after the match. Reuters

Dominik Livakovic of Dinamo Zagreb celebrates. Getty

Dino Peric of Dinamo Zagreb celebrates after the match. Getty

Dinamo Zagreb players acknowledge the fans after their victory. Getty

Dinamo Zagreb's Mislav Orsic scores their first goal in the Champions League Group E clash with Chelsea in Zagreb. Reuters

Dinamo Zagreb's Mislav Orsic celebrates with teammates after scoring their first goal. EPA

Chelsea coach Thonas Tuchel reacts. EPA

Chelsea's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is amused during the match. AP

Supporters of Dinamo light flares. EPA

Chelsea defender Reece James controls the ball. AFP

Chelsea made a miserable start to their Champions League campaign as Dinamo Zagreb ruined Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's debut with a shock 1-0 victory.

Thomas Tuchel's side were expected to cruise through Group E after being drawn with Dinamo, Red Bull Salzburg and AC Milan.

But their task might not be so simple after Mislav Orsic's first-half strike punished the Blues for another sloppy display in Zagreb.

"It's an underperformance from us. We have the same story as always. We have an OK start, we don’t finish our half chances, we don't feel it when the game is already there to put to bed in the first 15/20 minutes," Tuchel told BT Sport.

"Then we concede one counter-attack, which is far too easy, and from there we struggled.

"Too much to analyse. I'm a part of it. We are clearly not there, where we need to be and where we can be. So it's on me, it's on us, we need to find solutions. At the moment, everything is missing."

Having spent £250 million ($280m) on new signings since the end of last season, Tuchel is under pressure to deliver silverware in return.

But Chelsea's spending spree has yet to pay dividends, with no eye-catching performances in the Premier League and now three successive away defeats in all competitions.

It was a debut to forget for Aubameyang, who joined Chelsea in a £10.3m deadline-day deal from Barcelona just months after the acrimonious end to his time at Arsenal.

The 33-year-old had played for just eight minutes this season and only trained with Chelsea for the first time on Sunday.

Aubameyang recently suffered a fractured jaw during a violent robbery at his home, forcing the Gabon striker to fly to Italy to have a custom-made protective mask fitted last weekend.

Whether it was the mask or his unfamiliarity with his new team-mates, Aubameyang looked uncomfortable as he struggled to escape the Croatian champions' stifling defence.

The first ominous sign came when he didn't attack the near post as Kai Havertz whipped in a tempting low cross.

Moments later, Aubameyang ran clean through on goal, but took too long to decide whether to shoot or pass to Raheem Sterling, allowing Zagreb to avert the danger.

Chelsea monopolised possession in the early stages, but they were caught cold by a ruthless Dinamo counter in the 13th minute.

Despite spending a combined £100m on Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly, who both started in Chelsea's defence, Tuchel's men have had a soft centre so far this term and Orsic exploited that weakness.

When Bruno Petkovic headed Robert Ljubicic's pass into Orsic's path, Fofana was left trailing in the Croatian's wake as he raced half the length of the pitch to flick a composed finish past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Tuchel had dropped Edouard Mendy after his shaky start to the season, with Kepa replacing the Senegal keeper, who is also dealing with a patella tendon injury.

"Kepa deserves for a long time to play, it's a good moment for Edou to take a breath. He was a bit unlucky in the last games, not even bad but unlucky," Tuchel said.

Kepa could do nothing about Orsic's opener but the Spaniard stopped Chelsea falling further behind when he palmed away Arijan Ademi's stinging strike.

Dinamo were pressing tirelessly, giving wing-backs Reece James and Ben Chilwell little space to make the buccaneering runs that usually provide such quality service to Chelsea's forwards.

Tuchel sent on Hakim Ziyech for Cesar Azpilicueta at half-time as he switched to a back four in a bid to solve the conundrum.

The change gave Chelsea some impetus and Aubameyang tapped in Chilwell's pass immediately after the interval, only for the goal to be disallowed as the defender had strayed offside to reach Mateo Kovacic's pass.