The Blues star looked angry when he was taken off at the weekend having come off the bench, but he has since reacted well to the situation
Thomas Tuchel has explained there are no hard feelings with Callum Hudson-Odoi over the decision to withdraw him having brought him on as a half-time substitute in the 1-1 draw with Southampton.
The 20-year-old could start against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League after the Blues manager explained his decision to take off the homegrown star 31 minutes after bringing him on.
It is understood that Hudson-Odoi hasn’t taken the decision personally and his status at Stamford Bridge hasn’t changed following the incident at St Mary’s.
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What Tuchel said?
“Yes, that’s right,” he said when asked whether Hudson-Odoi could start against Diego Simeone’s side in Romania. “We decided to speak to him in front of the whole group because I had my reasons to do it. Was it the right decision? I don’t know but it was my decision at this moment.
“For us in the group, we spoke as a whole group to not make it bigger than it is because for us it was not a big thing. I know that it could sometimes be and sometimes you reflect why you do it, should you do it because sometimes maybe the media and family make it bigger than it was meant.
“So I did it and we had the only reaction that we wanted. He went back to normal mood, to a good mood, to a smile, to training and the next day very, very good training and today. That’s it.
“I already said after the game this was the decision for today, this was the lesson to learn from today for him and for me also and we go on and then it is forgotten. That is the way so in here at Cobham, between us, between us two, between me and the team business as usual and no big thing.”
What do Hudson-Odoi’s team-mates think?
Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta offered his view of the situation, having seen the discussion unfold in the dressing room: “Obviously, it is not nice to come on and be subbed after 25 or 30 minutes. That is very obvious and the manager made it clear.
“What was important was to see his reaction afterwards: it was a positive reaction. I am sure he will get better; he will get stronger. He is a young lad.
“When you face these kinds of situations, the most important thing is the reaction and straight away, the next day in training, the manager said the incident was over, he talked through it and that was it. Now we have another challenge.
“Callum is a strong boy. I am sure he will get better. He is a very important player for us, as we saw in the recent games, he has played every game under the new manager.”
How do Chelsea look ahead of the first leg?
Chelsea have a full complement of players available, aside from Thiago Silva who remains out with a calf muscle injury.
Tuchel said: “He is not available. He is training right now while we are leaving in the next minutes, so he did not do training with the squad and is not available.”
He went onto confirm that Christian Pulisic and Kai Havertz will return: “I am very happy that both of them are in the group and they trained with us and have no complaints. I am happy they travel with us and are in the squad for tomorrow.”
Further reading
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Chelsea struggles have brought me down to earth, admits Werner
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Tuchel: Kante’s ball-winning strengths not used well enough by Chelsea team-mates
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Kepa backed to clear Chelsea ‘bumps’ & ‘contribute a lot’ as Azpilicueta supports troubled goalkeeper
