📣 Tuchel on Christensen situation, injuries and FA Cup final reaction | OneFootball

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Padraig Whelan·18 May 2022

📣 Tuchel on Christensen situation, injuries and FA Cup final reaction

Article image:📣 Tuchel on Christensen situation, injuries and FA Cup final reaction

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel addressed the media ahead of his side’s penultimate game of the season against Leicester on Thursday.

This is the best of what he had to say.


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On Andreas Christensen’s situation

The defender pulled out of the FA Cup final squad on matchday, citing personal reasons

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“I’m not sure yet if he will be involved tomorrow or on the weekend. Andreas came in the morning of the match to speak to me. He told me he was not ready to play the match. He had his reasons. They stay private and confidential.

“It was not the first time, as you can see over the last weeks; we had some of the same situations. That’s why he did not play regularly over the last weeks.

“The conversation took place. We had to respect it. Of course. He has our support still, but for tomorrow I am unsure. Will he be out for the weekend? It is unlikely.

“I don’t think it’s that he does not want to play, he was not able to play. It’s a big difference. We had more than this conversation, but on Saturday morning, he finally told me.”


On injuries and team news

“Kai [Havertz] tries today in training. He did individual training yesterday but was not in team training. So it’s still a big question mark. Timo [Werner] is out with a hamstring injury.

“Ben Chilwell was back in team training which was very, very good news and a big lift for everybody and well deserved. So nice to see him back in training.

“Of course, he is not available for the match. Everybody could see that Kova (Mateo Kovačić) had a big swollen ankle after the match and did not train yesterday. So I’m not sure he will be available.”


On using last two games to blood new players

“We will not play Conor Gallagher in the next two matches! I’m not sure yet, actually. Not sure yet. I am normally used to doing what is best for the next game, not for whatever. The guys that deserve it will play. The situation changed slightly for us.

“For example, Toni [RĂŒdiger] deserves to play. No need now to not let him play the last matches because he was huge for us and influential so let’s see. Let’s wait and see how everybody feels about it and who is hungry to perform. This will be the most decisive factor in the line-up.”


On Conor Gallagher and Armando Broja returning

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“First of all, they will come back because they are our players. When we send them on loan, we do this for them but also for us to have better players, more experienced players back. They are our players, and I want to have them in pre-season and then we decide what’s going on.”


On takeover issues

“I am aware but I have no new information and have not been informed about the character of the issues that have obviously arrived. Let’s wait and see. I am still convinced that it is in good hands – not my hands but hopefully good hands and better hands than my hands. Hopefully, it will go through as quickly as possible.”


On FA Cup final reaction

“I feel different levels of disappointment after matches and after finals, losses in general. Everybody was very disappointed and sad at the same time. We again had the feeling we left everything out there, so there is a different level of disappointment.

“Of course, we were so close. Arguably, we deserve more in these two finals, but Liverpool deserved it as well. We had no regrets again. I think this is a level of disappointment, a level of loss that we can get over quickly. I haven’t watched it back yet but we need to bounce back.

“That is what we demand of ourselves, of them.”