Tuchel has his take on the Kepa-Rudiger training ground incident

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel reflects on the Blues' transfer activity in the January transfer window.

Thomas Tuchel gives his take on the Kepa-Rudiger incident

According to news from Daily Mail, Thomas Tuchel has decided to not punish either Kepa or Antonio Rudiger after their training ground bust-up. The German defender had to be sent out of training after the incident as tempers flared between both players.

Things were bound to be a little hot with Chelsea encountering their first loss under Thomas Tuchel, especially with the defeat coming against West Brom. Understandably, tempers were high and it spilt into the training session.

Chelsea are willing to sell Kepa and Rudiger to fund a move for Rice

It has been claimed that Rudiger and Kepa were involved in a training ground bust-up and it rose from a friendly game. Rudiger supposedly went in for a late challenge on Kepa, something which the keeper did not take well.

Things quickly escalated, with both players pushing and shoving each other and then finally being separated by the players and staff. With Rudiger still not looking calm, Tuchel had to ask him to leave the training while Kepa stayed on to complete the remaining minutes.

Thomas Tuchel Manager of Chelsea during the Premier League behind closed doors match between Chelsea and West Bromwich Albion at Stamford Bridge, London, England on 3 April 2021.

Thomas Tuchel, however, chose not to escalate things in the aftermath. Instead, he was pleased with how both players resolved the issue and decided to not punish them.

‘No punishment so far because of the way they dealt with it. It was an immediate reaction and Toni sorted it out immediately which was absolutely necessary. It was the strong and the right thing to do, it cleared the air immediately and we are happy with how they dealt with it. These are things we don’t like to accept but there is no more with this situation.’

Apparently, Rudiger is all set to start against Porto as confirmed by The Telegraph. That does show that all this is behind everyone and they are focused on what happens next.

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It’s good that everything is sorted now with both players handling the situation amicably. Tuchel was also right in not escalating this further and allowing the players to resolve it.

Training ground bust-ups are nothing new, with teammates getting into arguments and altercations, the important thing now is that it is resolved.

4 years ago

Sourav Ghosh

Full-time football fan, half-time football writer.