Chelsea pair Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga will not face further disciplinary action following a heated training ground bust-up on Sunday - but Thomas Tuchel admitted the incident was serious enough for staff to have to intervene.
The German made it clear he was not happy after the pair clashed during reduced-numbers game at Cobham, the day after the shock 5-2 defeat to West Brom.
“It was nothing to do with the defeat, it was just an incident in training - it got heated up between Toni and Kepa,” said Tuchel ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto. “So we calmed the situation down immediately.
“I don’t want to play it down with anything artificial, these are things we don’t want to accept, but they can happen. They are all competitors and want to win training matches.
“The reaction was not okay. But the redaction to it, how the guys handled the situation, especially Toni and Kepa, was amazing and showed how much respect they have for each other. They cleared the air immediately.
“This was the most important so there was nothing left the day after. We spoke about the issue and then it was solved. This was the main part.
“They sorted it out straight after training in a very honest, humble and very direct way. That showed me they have very good character.
“Toni sorted it out directly, and it was a strong and brave thing to do. So I am happy with the way they dealt with it.”
Rudiger is expected to start against Porto and asked if the players would be punished, Tuchel added: “No punishment so far because of the way they dealt with it.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was serious. Sometimes you have little, little situations when you look away and let them sort things out. This was not the case. We needed to interfere in this situation so it was serious. How the guys handled the situation was impressive and showed a lot of character. But the situation was serious.”
