Tuchel: Watch Lukaku’s interview 100 times and it won’t get better
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 5 Jan 2022 14:10 CST
- 3 min read
Thomas Tuchel says he wants Chelsea to move on from the Romelu Lukaku saga that has dominated the narrative over the past week.
Lukaku caused a storm at Chelsea after he gave an unauthorised interview to Sky Sport Italia during which he declared his unhappiness at Chelsea, criticised manager Thomas Tuchel’s tactics and said that he wanted to return to Inter.
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This infuriated Chelsea’s management, owners and fans and led to Lukaku being dropped for Sunday’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool, with the ex-Inter star not even named on the bench.
Lukaku subsequently held talks with Tuchel and the club on Monday where the player is understood to have apologised for his actions. He then apologised publicly and was recalled to the team for the Carabao Cup game against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham on Wednesday.
Ahead of that game, Tuchel said that he wants to turn over a new page and move on.
What did Tuchel say about Lukaku?
"Against his old coach [Antonio Conte]... he is our player, this was the plan (to play) but it was also the plan last match and didn't work out!" Tuchel explained to Sky Sports.
"We can watch this interview 100 times, it will not get better and that will not make it better.
"We can shift our focus, we accept it happened and we have enough reasons to stay positive and protect him now because he is a key player and we want him to be a key player."
Lukaku was named in the starting XI for Chelsea’s match against Tottenham, with the Blues taking an early lead through a Davinson Sanchez own goal.
