Chelsea face Liverpool in Sunday’s Carabao Cup final but the match is not the only thing on the Blues’ mind, said manager Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel admitted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created “huge uncertainty” around Chelsea, owned by Russian Roman Abramovich, and is “worrying” and “distracting” for his players.
Chris Bryant, the Labour MP, said in the House of Commons on Thursday that the government should seize the assets of Abramovich citing concerns about alleged links to corruption.
Abramovich is believed to be close to the Russian president Vladimir Putin but was not on the list of individuals sanctioned by the British government. Tuchel said that he understands why the club may face criticism.
“The situation for me, my staff, and everyone here at Cobham, the players, is horrible,” Tuchel said. “No one expected this. It’s pretty unreal. It is clouding our minds, it’s clouding our excitement towards the final.
“There are so many uncertainties around the situation of our club and of the situation in the UK with scenarios like this that it makes no sense if I comment on it.
“I am aware of all these scenarios and I am aware of all these discussions. I would love to take my right not to comment on this until there is a decision made. To a certain degree, I can understand it to such a degree, the opinions and the critical opinions towards the club, towards us who represent that club. I can understand that and we cannot fully free ourselves from it.
“It brings huge uncertainty — much more to all the people and families who are more involved than us, and our thoughts are obviously with them. Maybe people understand that me as a coach or the players, we don’t have the insight about what is really going on. At the moment, we don’t feel responsible for all this. We feel that it is horrible and there can be no doubt about it. War in Europe was unthinkable for me for a long period.”
Yarmolenko leave
Chelsea’s fellow Premier League side West Ham have granted compassionate leave to 32-year-old Andriy Yarmolenko, who is Ukraine’s second all-time leading goalscorer.
“He’s not in a really good position at the moment,” manager David Moyes said on Friday. “I spoke with him on Thursday and he was upset, which you can imagine and rightly so. We just hope everything goes well and all his family members keep safe.”
West Ham hosts Wolverhampton on Sunday.
Written with inputs from agencies