Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has made comments about his 2-2 draw against Spurs. He has tried to downplay his argument and clash against Spurs manager Antonio Conte.
After the clash ended in a 2-2 draw thanks to Harry Kane‘s last-minute equalizer, the pair shook hands at full-time only for Tuchel to not let go of Conte’s hand after taking offense that he did not look him in the eye.
When Tuchel was quizzed on their clash, he attempted to play down the situation. He insisted that it was normal for things to heat up given the rivalry between the London clubs.
“I thought when you shake hands that you look into each other’s eyes. Antonio had a different opinion. It was emotional. He was happy when he equalised, things got a bit heated, nothing big.”
When asked about what may happen if he meets Conte outside of the match, he said:
“If we meet, we meet. If not, not. It’s not a problem. It’s a football match, come on guys. Between men, two competitors, nothing bad happened.”
Thomas Tuchel criticizes the refereeing decisions
Chelsea lost their lead twice, after Kalidou Kalibou and Reece James bagged goals to give the Blues a lead on two separate occasions.
The first equalizer from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg came after the Chelsea players thought that a foul had been made on Kai Havertz by Rodrigo Bentacur, before Hojberg’s shot found the bottom corner with Richarlison offside and in line with Eduoard Mendy.
Tuchel also complained about the second goal, when during a corner, Marc Cucurella’s hair was pulled by Cristian Romero at the corner, just before Harry Kane got the ball into the left corner with a header.
VAR was used on both occasions, with no fouls being given to the Lilywhites, much to the frustration of Chelsea fans and players.
About the refereeing decisions of the match, Tuchel had this to say:
“We were brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Both of their goals should not stand, absolutely not. There is only one team who deserve to win and that’s us. We were absolutely brilliant, and I’m sorry for my team that they do not get what they deserve.
“First of all, it is a clear foul on Kai Havertz. We had one tactical foul from Reece James, got straight yellow. I don’t know how many tactical fouls Hojbjerg and Bentancur did today, nothing happened.
“Clear foul on Kai Havertz, ok, situation goes on. Then it is clear offside with Richarlison. He is in the line of the shot, he even goes to touch the ball, he doesn’t the ball, Mendy cannot see the ball, they check it and it is a clear offside.
“Then since when can we pull hair on a football field. Since when is that? Then we check it and nothing happens. We don’t need to check anymore. Ridiculous.”
After the match, referee Antony Taylor received heavy criticism.
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