American winger Christian Pulisic has joined the list of Chelsea players to express disappointment on Thomas Tuchel. He mentioned that “he was dumbfounded on leaving him out of the UCL semi final second leg”.
This happened following the USMNT star’s brilliant performance in the first leg. Pulisic would go on to mention that the German had instructed him not to go for the run leading up to the goal.
“What happened before that game was hugely disappointing for me,” Pulisic wrote in his autobiography ‘My Journey So Far’. “l’d had a really good first leg performance and our following match was against Fulham in the league.
“Tuchel told me that he was resting me for the second leg and as a result I didn’t play a single minute in the Fulham game. Then on match day of the second semi, Tuchel tells me he’s changed his mind and he’s going with Kai.
“I honestly was dumbfounded and very disappointed. I thought that I’d earned a start and, most importantly, he had assured me previously I was going to start. So by the time he brought me on with about 25 minutes left, I was just so wound up.
“The untold story behind that goal is that when Rudiger has the ball, I can see he’s looking to play it long over the top and I started my run to get in behind the Madrid backline,” American winger Christian Pulisic explained. “But as I take off on the run, I hear Thomas Tuchel yelling from the sideline. ‘Christian, stay in the pocket, don’t make the run!’
“But I just had the feeling I’d find the space and get on the end of the pass. So I continued the run.”
