Tuchel exalts Mendy and laments the goalkeeper’s absence in the dispute for the Golden Ball

After beating Brentford 1-0 this Saturday away from home, Chelsea reached 19 points added and maintained the position of leader of the English Championship. After the final whistle, coach Thomas Tuchel praised goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, who played an outstanding role in the match with decisive saves. The German coach regretted that the Senegalese is out of contention for this year’s Golden Ball.

“I deserved to be on the list, but you know, I’m happy. It’s more important that he’s playing at the same level as in today’s match against Brentford than being on any list. He’s not let down by it. our entire team could be on the list, we won the Champions League as a team. Having five or six names doesn’t matter at all,” said Tuchel.

The archer arrived at the English club in September 2020, coming from Rennes, France, for 25 million euros (about R$ 157 million). With instability in the position during some seasons, the player soon took the starting position, which was previously disputed by Kepa and Caballero, and was one of the main names of the team in the achievements of the Champions League and the European Super Cup last season.

Tuchel stressed that the goalkeeper’s performance was decisive for the team to leave the field with the triumph. During the 90 minutes, the athlete made six difficult saves, one of them after one of the opposing players hit a bicycle near the small area, in the final minutes of the duel.

“He was very strong throughout the game. We managed to keep a lot of pressure off him during the first 60-65 minutes, but they were still there. They were always dangerous in set pieces, they put in a lot of free kicks, corners, kicks lack in his area, so he is a constant threat and Mendy was very strong and also very focused on our construction move, a great performance”, concluded the commander.

You Blues return to the field as early as next Wednesday, in commitment for the Champions League. Chelsea host Malmo, at Stamford Bridge, at 4 pm (GMT), for the third round of the group stage of the continental tournament.