Thomas Tuchel heaped praise on Romelu Lukaku for overcoming the ‘pressure’ and ‘adversity’ of his interview controversy to impress in Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Tottenham.
Lukaku, 28, was making his first Blues outing since expressing his unhappiness at the club and flirting with former side Inter Milan in an explosive interview with Sky Italy last week.
The Belgium striker was dropped by Tuchel for Sunday’s 2-2 Premier League draw at home to Liverpool and slapped with a fine, but he returned to the starting lineup for their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Spurs.
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And despite failing to get on the scoresheet in a comfortable victory for the European champions, he still did enough to win over his manager on the night.
‘I’m absolutely happy with (Lukaku’s) performance, I like how he played, strong, huge commitment in defensive work,’ said Tuchel.
‘He was not affected by it, he was relaxed and fine with situation, mentally he has moved on. He was always dangerous, always used his body, and was always involved in dangerous situations.
‘I expected it honestly because Romelu can handle pressure, he can handle adversity, and he seemed to be relaxed after the decision was made and we finished our talks.
‘I felt him relaxed enough to have a performance like this.’
Kai Havertz broke the deadlock for Chelsea after five minutes at Stamford Bridge, before a calamitous own goal from Ben Davies doubled their lead half an hour later.
Tuchel and co now have one foot in the Wembley final ahead of next week’s second leg in north London. (AF)
