THOMAS TUCHEL has warned Porto: ‘You don’t want to get in a fight with Antonio Rudiger’.
But he’s not the only fearsome scrapper in Chelsea’s side.
Talkative Blues boss Tuchel made no attempt to cover up reports of Rudiger’s training ground bust-up with keeper Kepa the other week.
And now he has revealed more dressing-room secrets after admitting at the weekend that shy Kai Havertz will never be his club’s emotional leader.
Ahead of tomorrow’s Champions League battle with Portuguese bruisers Porto, Tuchel was asked who he will be looking to when things get tough.
And he immediately replied: “You honestly don’t want to be in a fight with Toni Rudiger, with Cesar Azpilicueta or Mateo Kovacic.
“They are emotional guys who are always ready to fight and it’s in their nature to show that on the pitch and to protect the interests of our team.
“When I was a player at a lower level it was always important when there was a lot of tension ahead of the big matches to see who was there with me.
“I am sure our guys will be very comfortable when they look around our dressing-room and see who they can rely on.
“The best thing about this game is that we will all be out there together, pushing hard, hard, hard on the pitch, from the bench and from the stands for the best outcome.
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“We have a minimum of 90 minutes to fight against Porto and that is what we will do.”
Defender Ben Chilwell saw Rudiger’s scrap with reserve keeper Kepa up close and believes the incident has actually strengthened Chelsea’s resolve for the crucial final month of the season.
He says: “I think that incident is a positive because it shows that we are all fighting and competing because we want to be successful.
“When something like that happens it gets brushed under the carpet straight away but it’s very important to have these things to push each other and make us better.
“You can tell that the squad is together because our form has been brilliant since the new manager came in and we are not conceding a lot of goals which shows out unity.”
Chelsea already have one foot in a potential Champions League semi-final clash with Real Madrid or Liverpool.
But Tuchel warns that there is still plenty of hard work to be done to see off Porto and insists that he won’t look to simply defend the 2-0 lead from last week’s first leg.
He says: “We won’t change our approach for this game because if we start adapting we could easily lose our heads.
“It’s easier for Porto because they know very well that they need to score at least three goals to go through.
“But we can’t go out thinking that it’s good enough to lose 1-0, or maybe to have a draw.
“Why should we enter into that way of thinking? We have a certain way of playing and we should rely on what we do well rather than changing our approach because of the result we had last week.
“Everybody can wreck their heads about it, but our target is to keep our focus and embrace this challenge.
“We have to accept that Porto are a proud club and a very emotional team.
“But if we maintain full focus we can be absolutely self-confident because we have a strong squad and we are always a tough team to play against.”
LIKELY LINE-UPS
CHELSEA (3-4-3): Mendy; Azpilicueta, Christensen, Rudiger; James, Kovacic, Jorginho, Chilwell; Mount, Havertz, Werner.
PORTO (4-4-2): Marchesin; Manafa, Mbemba, Pepe, Sanusi; Corona, Uribe, Oliveira, Otavio; Marega, Taremi.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
