Romelu Lukaku ‘excused himself’ and returned to Chelsea’s collective training

Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku made his excuses for a controversial interview on Italian television and He was reinstated in the Chelsea player group ahead of the first leg of the semifinals of the League Cup, on Wednesday, said the coach on Tuesday Thomas Tuchel.

“He excused himself and has returned to collective training” on Tuesday, explained the German, a few days after having left Lukaku out of the group for the Premier’s clash against Liverpool (2-2).

Signed by 115 million euros (129.8 million dollars) this season from Inter Milan, Lukaku had given an interview to Sky Sports Italia in mid-December, where he said he was dissatisfied with his situation in the Blues and secretly criticized Tuchel’s game.

The images were released three days before the game against the Reds with whom Chelsea fights behind leader Manchester City.

“For me, the most important thing was to understand. And understand very clearly ”, explained Tuchel.

“He has not done it on purpose to create a tumult ahead of this very important match. And it is the first time that he behaves like this ”, said the coach.

He also downplayed the scope of his words, which surprised London fans.

“It is not as huge as some would have liked, but not that small either. It is small enough so that we are calm, that we accept the excuses and that we move on to something else, “added Tuchel.

“He is fully aware of what he has caused and feels that it is his responsibility to clean up this mess … He can manage it and he has no choice. You can’t expect everyone to be happy, ”added the coach.

“But he is still our player and we have good reasons, and many reasons, to make him play with us (…) We are happy that he is our player and we will protect him,” concluded Tuchel. (D)