Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that Andreas Christensen did not refuse to play in the FA Cup final. The Danish defender was not part of the squad that lost to Liverpool on penalties in the final. He confirmed that Christensen came to him the morning of the final to clarify that he will not be able to play but said that he did not refuse to play.
“Andreas came in the morning of the match to speak to me and tell me he was not ready to play the match, start the match, or be on the bench,” Thomas Tuchel said about Andreas Christensen. “He had his reasons; they stay private and confidential. But it was not the first time, as you can see over the last weeks that we had some of the same situations where he could not play so regularly. We thought that we were in a good progression and development because he played very strong in the match before the final against Leeds, but a conversation took place, we had to respect it, we, of course, respected it. I don’t think that he did not want to play, he was not able to. It’s a big difference.”
“We had to accept it and we will accept it. I try the best I can not to take things personally, and I still believe Andreas wanted to play these matches, I still believe he could in terms of potential and ability,” he added. “And he struggled over the last weeks, as you can see, when he was not in the squad or not playing although he was physically available. It was not completely out of the blue sky. We thought we had prepared him the best way possible with a very impressive game at Leeds. He is a key player.”
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