Champions League: DFB star settles accounts with ex-coach Thomas Tuchel

Football International

Football is a fast-moving business. Achievements from the past, however great they may have been, are quickly forgotten. What counts is often only the now.

Various players have had to experience this firsthand. At Eintracht Frankfurt, for example, striker Rafael Borré has been sidelined. Only a few months ago he had made the SBU the Europa League winner with the decisive goal on penalties.

A similar fate befell Timo Werner before. In 2020, the DFB star moved to Chelsea in London and immediately knew how to impress in his debut season. In 52 competitive games, the fast striker scored twelve goals and 15 assists.

Werner also played a key role in his team’s Champions League victory. Among other things, he scored against Real Madrid in the semifinals and paved the way for Chelsea to reach the final.

In 2021 he was suddenly on the outside. For a fee of 120 million euros, his club put a strong competitor in front of him in Romelu Lukaku. Werner’s operating times became less and less.

Werner analyzes relegation at Chelsea

In an interview with the British daily newspaper “The Sun”, the 26-year-old looked back on his relegation at Chelsea in a self-critical manner – and he didn’t skimp on harsh criticism of his coach at the time, Thomas Tuchel.

With a view to his successful debut season, Werner says: “Then the coach forgets it all a bit, it wasn’t really fair. That was also a reason why I had to go back to Leipzig to have fun again.”

Although he felt he had treated him unfairly, Werner emphasizes that there is no bad blood between him and Tuchel. However, his engagement at Stamford Bridge did not mean anything good for him from the outset. “The coach who brought me in [Frank Lampard, Anm. d. Red.]was released a few months later”remembers Werner opposite The Sun and then emphasizes that this scenario is never optimal for a player.

However, Werner does not only see the blame for his sporting problems on others. In the interview he is quite self-critical. “In the end I missed a few chances and was unlucky with VAR decisions. You could see my confidence dropping.”

He also had a difficult time privately. His move to London during the corona pandemic was anything but easy.

“In the first few months nothing was open, I always sat at home, spent Christmas and New Year’s Eve alone, was only at games, of course that was hard.” Then Werner adds: “Maybe it would have been different with a real life, friends and family around me.”