Thomas Tuchel seems to know the secret to beating Manchester City, a formidable task to say the least. So while we can all nitpick the starting lineup that he decided to go with in the UEFA Champions League final, and question his decisions, we got to realize he deifnitely knows what he’s doing here.
Tonight in Porto, Tuchel decided to start Christian Pulisic on the bench, opting instead for a final third featuring his two countrymen, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, alongside the undroppable Mason Mount.
Team news is in! ?#UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/BrKdO0jdId
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 29, 2021
As Tuchel points out, Pulisic can excel as a supersub (or as a starter) and that’s exactly what happened in the semis against Real Madrid. The Blues boss also went on to state the obvious- it takes a village to best City.
“It’s a tough choice to leave him out but he’s very strong from the bench,” Tuchel told a television pregame interview.
“I told the guys tough news because I have to choose from 23 a starting 11 but we need 15, 16 today to finish this game hopefully in a positive way. It’s true. It’s like this. I hope we start strong and finish strong.”
He’s right- it’s going to take a true team effort for Chelsea to pull the upset today.
As of posting, we’re still scoreless in Porto, 20 minutes in.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.