Thomas Tuchel reveals how many penalties Chelsea scored in training and more...
- Seb Sternik
- 29 May 2021
The Chelsea manager gave his final press conference ahead of this weekend’s Champions League final and took the opportunity to share his thoughts on penalties, injuries and Pep Guardiola.
Tuchel admitted that his side were practicing penalties ahead of the showdown with Manchester City in Porto.
He said: "We always practise penalties when we face a match where it's possible it could go to penalties.
"Can we simulate the pressure, the fatigue, the occasion, how it will feel tomorrow? No, we cannot.
"But still, we believe we can take care about some patterns, and about a certain rhythm and certain habits during penalties. Which we did.
Villarreal won the Europa League after an incredible penalty shoot-out
"And honestly, the penalty shootout was fantastic in terms of quality from the takers, I've never seen anything like this - 20 penalties in a row and no misses.
"And so, so strong, and so well taken.
"And we have identified the guys who should take the penalties for us, but I don't know who in the end will be on the pitch.
"So, we need to be well aware, but we are prepared and if we go to penalties we go in there together."
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Injury relief and Guardiola rivalry
Ahead of Friday night's final training session, Tuchel revealed Mendy is ready for action after rib trouble, while N'Golo Kante fit after a hamstring concern.
"It's the best news ever, we have no injuries and let's hope it stays like this until after the training," said Tuchel.
Another major talking point during the press conference was Tuchel's growing rivalry with Pep Guardiola.
Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel
When asked whether he sees Saturday's game as a battle between the two manager he said: "I would never suggest it's me against him, it's much more than that; because we don't have a match of tennis tomorrow.
"We arrive with our teams, and Pep will prepare his team and I will prepare my team, the best way possible.
"We have had two experiences now against them in different competitions, and two different matches, two different line-ups.
"And tomorrow will be a very different line-up I think from Man City.
Chelsea have won their last two games against Man City
"But nevertheless we have the experience of how much we had to suffer, the experience of how brave, how courageous we need also to play in certain moments of the game. And for me it's about this tomorrow.
"It's always tough to play against City, Bayern or Barcelona when Pep is at the sideline.
"They create and he creates this team with this huge belief, and this huge success, and continuously winning mentality.
"So they are maybe at the moment the strongest team in Europe and maybe in the world, and they have a huge gap, they have built a huge gap between them and us in the league.
"But we closed the gap for 90 minutes in Wembley, we closed the gap for 90 minutes at City, and this is what we want to do tomorrow."
