Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga bust-up at training before the shocking Saturday’s 5-2 defeat to West Brom, Thomas Tuchel has confirmed.
Chelsea did not comment on the matter publicly, but the blues manager has confirmed the bust-up. Tuchel was open on the Teausday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto news conference.
“It was not [serious].” Tuchel revealed, “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 [such incidents] 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,” he continued.
“We spoke about the issue and then it was solved. This is the main part. It will stay with us, it wasn’t awkward. They solved it straight after training in an honest and humble way and it showed me they have good character.”
Although the Chelsea coach had dismissed the seriousness of the matter Tuchel backtracked and emphasized what occurred.
Tuchel said, “It was serious. Sometimes you have little situations when you look away and let them sort things out. We needed to interfere in this situation, so it was serious. How the guys handled the situation was impressive and showed character, but the situation was serious,”
However, Tuchel has confirmed that Rudiger will play on Wednesday and there is no punishment.
“No, no punishment so far because of the way they dealt with it,” he confirmed.
Tuchel insists that the two sorted the issue immediately. “Toni sorted out it directly, which was necessary. It was a strong and brave thing to do and the right thing to do.”