Hakim Ziyech Reveals How Chelsea Players Reacted To Lukaku’s Controversial Interview

Chelsea midfielder Hakim Ziyech revealed how the team reacted to Romelu Lukaku’s controversial interview last week before praising the Belgian’s performance in the League Cup semi-final first leg Wednesday.

Following the interview with Sky Italia, in which he said he was unhappy with head coach Thomas Tuchel’s tactics at Chelsea and wanted to return to his former club Inter Milan, Lukaku was dropped from the squad for a crucial home league game against Liverpool FC.

Tuchel said the situation became "too noisy" so he left Lukaku out of the matchday squad for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool. Soon after that, he had a one-on-one talk with Lukaku, who then issued an official apology to supporters via an interview with Chelsea TV.

As the air cleared between Lukaku and Tuchel, the Belgian forward returned to Chelsea’s squad for the League Cup semi-final first leg against Spurs, which ended in the favor of the home side. Kai Havertz scored the opening goal just five minutes after the kickoff and an own goal from Spurs’ Ben Davies meant, Chelsea sealed a 2-0 victory.

In a post-match interview Wednesday, Ziyech, who featured in Chelsea’s starting XI against Spurs, said that the entire squad supported Lukaku during the recent difficult days.

"The only thing we can do is support him and make him not think about other things, just about the game – and I think that’s what we did the last couple of days. Like I said, that’s why we’re teammates, to support each other, and that’s what we did. And I think even he was really sharp today and had a good performance," Ziyech told Viasport.

Meanwhile, Lukaku received praise from Tuchel as well, who said he was happy with the Belgian forward’s performance.

"I’m happy with his performance, I liked how he played. He was strong, he was involved and showed huge commitment in our defensive work, which was important. He was always dangerous, always used his body and was always involved in dangerous situations," Tuchel was quoted by Chelsea media, as saying in the post-match interview after his side’s 2-0 win.

Tuchel went on to add that he expected something like that from Lukaku because the former Manchester United player knows how to "handle pressure."

"I expected it honestly because Romelu can handle pressure and can handle adversity. He seemed to be relaxed after the decision was made and we finished our talks and he knew what was going on, I felt him relaxed enough to have a performance like this," added Tuchel.

Having played 19 competitive matches in the 2021-22 campaign, Lukaku has scored seven goals and assisted two more.