Tuchel says Chelsea deserved to beat the Rojiblancos in a game which was played in Bucharest due to the Coronavirus restrictions in Spain.
The Blues dominated the game despite a shaky and nervy start but could not break Diego Simeone’s men.
Chelsea had two shots on target in the first half and the closest they came was when Timo Werner’s shot was parried away by Jan Oblak.
Olivier Giroud acrobatically hooked home in the 69th minute to give Chelsea the lead and that was enough to win the game for the West Londoners.
"Fantastic result, fantastic goal. Well deserved,” Tuchel told BT Sports after the game.
"We wanted to dominate in the opponents' half, to never lose concentration, not to do any easy mistakes and always be aware of quick counter-attacks for all their quality.
"It was a very disciplined performance - a deserved shut-out. This is the hard work, a team effort - the basis for a big win.
"We knew it [Atletico packing their defence] could happen. We told the guys if it happens maybe it's our quality and the respect. We wanted to be brave and play in their half.
"We knew they were ready to suffer with eight people in the box. The intention was to keep the intensity high. This is what we did very good. We never let them breathe or come out for counter-attacks. We have a big reward with this result.
"This is one of the toughest challenges to open a defence like Atletico."
