Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Timo Werner told him he did not feel able to feature in the FA Cup final because of a hamstring problem.
Werner was named among the substitutes for the game at Wembley, where Chelsea lost on penalties to Liverpool.
With Kai Havertz out with a hamstring injury, it seemed surprising that Tuchel did not introduce Werner for at least some of the game, particularly after it went to extra time.
But the Blues boss later explained that Werner was not involved because he had been struggling with an injury.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Tuchel said: “He felt uncomfortable during the warm-up and said he could not play.”
Tuchel also explained that he took off Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the final minute of extra time purely with the imminent shoot-out in mind.
Loftus-Cheek was replaced by Ross Barkley just 14 minutes after coming on as a substitute.
Barkley took one of Chelsea’s penalties and scored, but Mason Mount’s kick was saved by keeper Alisson and Kostas Tsimikas then converted the winning penalty for Liverpool.
Tuchel said: “It was purely for penalties. Ruben has not a good history (with penalties) statistically and Ross has, so it was purely down to the penalties.”
