SPORT: Football
Thomas Tuchel confirms the return of Romelu Lukaku after his exclusion from Chelsea.

The Bel­gian was dropped for Sun­day’s 2–2 draw against Liv­er­pool after his con­tro­ver­sial inter­view last week.

But after leav­ing his £ 97.5million strik­er against the Reds, Tuchel has con­firmed that Lukaku will be involved again after apol­o­giz­ing in private.

He said: “First of all, we’re glad we took the time to watch calm­ly, that’s what we did.

“He apol­o­gized and is back with the team for train­ing today. The most impor­tant thing was to under­stand and believe that it was not intentional.

“There has nev­er been any behav­ior against the team.

“These are very impor­tant points to under­stand that it’s not that big as peo­ple or that you want it to be.

“He is also not small but small enough to stay calm, accept an apol­o­gy and move on.”

Asked about the fans’ reac­tion to Lukaku on his return, Tuchel added: “He is aware of what hap­pened and he cre­at­ed and feels respon­si­ble for clean­ing up the mess, but there can still be a good smell. sure.

“We are hap­py that he is our play­er and we will pro­tect him. If any­one strong­ly dis­agrees, it is about the team with every­thing we do.”

The Ger­man then con­tin­ued: “He’s very engaged. That’s why it sur­prised me so much. He scored against Vil­la and then the next game but he was there and decisive.

“I nev­er had the slight­est doubt before the inter­view that he was­n’t engaged. He’s an emo­tion­al guy, he does­n’t hold back with his opinion.

“We should­n’t just blame him and point out the neg­a­tive side, we have to adapt.

“It cre­at­ed a noise you don’t want, but there is no doubt about his com­mit­ment to the team.”

Asked how he can get the most out of Lukaku, Tuchel revealed: “I think the play­ers get the best out of themselves.

He was not hap­py because he was injured and had the Covid but he wants to score for us, to make us suc­ceed and that’s about it

“With Romelu, it’s not about find­ing posi­tions, he’s a strik­er, a num­ber nine and that’s it.

“It’s about adjust­ing to a dif­fer­ent team, team­mates, and then comes Covid. We’re in a very nor­mal place with him.”

He added: “I have read more dif­fi­cult quotes to deal with in pre­vi­ous years as a coach.

“He was­n’t hap­py because he was injured and had Covid but he wants to score for us, to make us suc­ceed and that’s about it.

“I don’t see any mis­un­der­stand­ing in the com­mu­ni­ca­tion. That’s why I was sur­prised, and still am. He’s our No.9 and I can’t say more.

“Was the inten­tion to cre­ate prob­lems? Leave the club? I don’t know, put pres­sure on the coach? No.

“Of course he should have known bet­ter, but that’s why we purged the air together.”