Chelsea vs Liverpool: Tuchel confirms why Belgian striker was dropped

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed why he chose to drop Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku out of his squad during the Blues faceoff vs Liverpool on Sunday.

Tuchel confirmed Lukaku was dropped out of the Blues squad because of his controversial interview with Sky Sports Italia.

Lukaku had, during the interview, criticised Tuchel’s style of football while also revealing he was unhappy at Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel, in an interview with Sky Sport after the match vs Liverpool, said, “The thing got too big, the thing got too noisy, so close to the match, so I decided to protect the preparation of the match, so that is why he is out.

“Yeah. Of course, we have spoken, we’ve spoken twice, I’ve spoken to the main players, of course, but after that, we had to realise it was too close to the match, it’s too big.

“We delayed the decision over what to do, but while we are delaying we have to protect the preparation of the match.

“We have a big game to play and we need full focus, which is hard to get even without this decision, but it was easier in my opinion if he is not in the squad, and that is why we did it.”