Tuchel stands by Lukaku

Chelsea manager and Germany international has taken a stand by Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku.

This comes as the Lukaku came under heavy criticism during the Blues game vs Crystal Palace on Sunday.

While Chelsea won the game in a 1-0 scoreline, the record revealed that the Belgium international didn’t touch the more than seven times, which means he was not active during the game.

Lukaku has been a huge talking point over the weekend after the Belgian recorded just seven touches in Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Crystal Palace.

However, the Blues manager has come to his defence as he stressed that it was no time to laugh at the striker.

Lukaku has struggled in recent weeks for the Blues and Tuchel was asked about his recent form during his press conference on Monday ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League tie against Lille.

Tuchel said: “It’s not the time to laugh about Romelu – he is our player and we will protect him. What can I do? I don’t know. Well, we have to deal with it.

“The data is out there and speaks the language that he wasn’t in our game.”