Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel insisted he had ‘no problem’ with Unai Emery after his side’s Uefa Super Cup victory but hit out at a member of Villarreal’s coaching staff for his over-the-top reaction to Antonio Rudiger’s crunching first-half challenge.
TV cameras captured the two managers exchanging words in a heated argument as they headed down the tunnel for the half-time break in Belfast, while Chelsea held a one-goal advantage thanks to Hakim Ziyech’s opener.
Rudiger was shown a yellow card for the robust tackle on Villarreal’s Yeremi Pino and Tuchel soon joined his fellow countryman in the book after remonstrating with referee Sergey Karasev for what he felt was a harsh decision.
But the episode did not finish there, with Tuchel and Emery embroiled in another argument as they headed for their respective dressing rooms, several minutes after the initial incident at Windsor Park.
‘This was a really, really great tackle in my book, in my era,’ ex-Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport while discussing Rudiger’s challenge.
‘But in today’s game, he gets a yellow card.
Former Chelsea star Joe Cole added: ‘If I was Pino, I’d have expected the centre-half to clean me out. But nowadays football is very civil.’
Tuchel was keen to draw a line under the episode during his post-match interview with BT Sport but admitted he was unhappy with one Villarreal staff member for their overly ‘loud’ reaction to Rudiger’s ‘English tackle’.
‘With him [Emery], there is no problem,’ the Chelsea manager told BT Sport shortly after Kepa Arrizabalaga came on to inspire his side to victory in Wednesday’s nail-biting penalty shootout.
‘It was somebody on his staff that was a bit too loud.
‘But yeah okay, it’s like this. We thought it was an English tackle, they saw it as a foul.’
Tuchel indicated that he will be without Ziyech for the foreseeable future after the Moroccan was forced with a shoulder injury at the end of the first half.
‘If you take a player out during the first half, it’s serious,’ the German said.
‘It’s unfortunate because he was a very decisive player for us in the last few games.’
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