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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga were involved in a training ground tussle, but the German manager said that it was sorted immediately.
The Blues endured a humiliating 5-2 home defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion over the weekend, which saw them drop to fifth in the Premier League. Ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League game against Porto, there were fears that a training ground clash could have impacted preparations for the game.
However, Tuchel revealed that the issue was dealt with very well. Speaking at his press conference on Tuesday, the Chelsea manager also hailed both players for their maturity.
“It was an incident in training and got heated between Toni and Kepa. We calmed the situation down immediately. I don't want to play things down artificially. We do not want to accept, but they can happen because everyone is competitive in training matches. The reaction to it, Toni and Kepa, was amazing. They showed how much respect they have for each other. They cleared the air, and there was nothing left one day after” said Tuchel.
The Chelsea boss said that neither player would be punished because of their reaction and desire to solve the issue immediately.
“No punishment so far because of the way they dealt with it. The reaction was immediate; they made it clear for everybody what happened. Toni sorted it out directly, which was necessary. It was a strong and brave thing to do and the right thing to do,” said Tuchel.
Tuchel also revealed that everyone at Chelsea was satisfied with how the entire incident was dealt with.
Chelsea manager not happy about the leak of information
However, Tuchel was concerned that the incident from the Chelsea training ground got leaked to the media.
“That it got out...I get used to it in modern times. There are too many channels and ways that information can get out. I heard even that some of my debrief from the match got out there too. Ok, it's not nice” said Tuchel.
The Chelsea manager went on to say that he does not want to risk harming the integrity of his team by trying to investigate how the information got out.
Thomas Tuchel will require his team to bounce back quickly from their weekend defeat to get the better of Porto. With the Premier League top-four race heating up, winning the Champions League could be Chelsea’s best route to playing the tournament next season.
