TUCHEL HAPPY WITH RESPONSE AFTER BLUES BUST-UP
THOMAS TUCHEL has hailed Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga for showing ‘courage’ to make amends after their training-ground bust-up.
The Chelsea boss confirmed reports defender Rudiger and goalkeeper Kepa were involved in a ‘serious’ clash on Sunday but said will not punish them.
The Blues were thumped 5-2 by second-bottom West Brom on Saturday after the first-half sending off of Thiago Silva, slipping out of the Premier League’s top four as a result.
They now face Porto in Seville in tonight’s Champions League quarter-final, first leg with Tuchel adamant the Cobham training-ground incident is completely behind them.
‘It was nothing to do with the defeat, it was just an incident in training; it got heated up between Toni and Kepa,’ revealed Tuchel.
‘So we calmed the situation down immediately. I don’t want to play it down with anything artificial, these
■ CHELSEA midfielder Mateo Kovacic shrugged off Porto defender Pepe’s suggestion the Blues had celebrated drawing the Portuguese side in the last eight. Pepe said it was ‘public that Chelsea players celebrated the draw’. But Kovacic (pictured) – his former Real Madrid team-mate – said: ‘[That’s] strange to hear because I played with him for three years. So I don’t know what he means or if he actually said it. But of course not. Me, I didn’t celebrate because when I played with Real Madrid I know there are no lucky or bad opponents.’
are things we don’t want to accept; it was unusual but they can happen.
‘They are all competitors and want to win training matches. We needed to interfere in the situation, so that was serious. But the way the guys handled the situation, that was impressive and showed a lot of courage.
‘The reaction was not okay, but the
reaction to it, how the guys handled the situation, especially Toni and Kepa, was amazing and showed how much respect they have for each other.
‘They cleared the air immediately. This was the most important thing so there was nothing left the day after.
‘We spoke about the issue and then it was solved. This was the main part.
They sorted it out straight after training in a very honest, humble and very direct way. That showed me they have very good character.
‘Toni sorted it out directly and it was a strong and brave thing to do.’
Tuchel is concerned about leaks from the Chelsea camp, however, and added: ‘That it got out... I get used to it in modern times. There are too many channels, too many ways that information can get out. I heard even that some of my debrief from the match got out there, what I told the team after the game and stuff like that.
‘But it’s not such a big deal that I start thinking about who is the leak. You can get totally lost with that and I don’t want to lose my focus.’
Christian Pulisic and N’Golo Kante are in contention this evening after injury and fit-again Tammy Abraham will also return to the squad.
Toni sorted it out directly and it was a strong and brave thing to do