Thomas Tuchel has issued a warning to Porto ahead of their Champions League clash that Antonio Rudiger, Mateo Kovacic and Cesar Azpilicueta are three Chelsea players they ‘don’t want to fight with’.
The Blues are preparing for their quarter-final second leg against Porto after taking a 2-0 lead in the tie away leg last week. Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell scored the key goals for Tuchel’s side.
Speaking ahead of the second match-up, the German tactician spoke about the players he will rely on to protect the Chelsea team as he praised his squad’s spirit.
‘Honestly you don’t want to be in a fight with Antonio Rudiger, Kova (Mateo Kovacic) and Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta),’ he said.
‘For me you don’t want to be in a fight with them, because they are ready to fight and it’s their nature to show it on the pitch and protect the interests of our team.
‘They are there we can rely on them nobody has to do stuff which is against their nature you can totally rely on them.
‘For me when I was a player at a lower level when you have big matches and feel the tension you look around at who is next to you and feel comfortable, see who you can rely on.
‘I feel our guys are very comfortable when they look around and see who they can rely on. No one is out there alone, we will help each other, we will help from the bench.
‘We will push hard for the best outcome. We have minimum of 90 minutes to fight for and achieve a big goal.’
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