Thomas Tuchel basks in Chelsea’s ‘dream’ Club World Cup victory and claims ‘everyone is jealous’ of the Blues as the German boss adds to his glut of silverware at Stamford Bridge
- Chelsea were crowned world champions in Abu Dhabi after being Palmeiras
- Kai Havertz scored a penalty deep into extra-time to seal it with a 2-1 victory
- Thomas Tuchel bagged his third trophy since taking charge of the Blues
- The German insisted Chelsea were determined not to miss their opportunity
Thomas Tuchel believes Chelsea’s rivals were jealous of their Club World Cup chance after being made to sweat by his Blues stars in the Abu Dhabi final.
The west Londoners are the new world champions but Palmeiras made them work for it, pegging the Champions League holders back to 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes following Romelu Lukaku’s opener.
Kai Havertz stepped up to bury a high pressure 117th minute spot-kick, clinching glory for Chelsea just as he did in Porto for the European crown last year.
Thomas Tuchel lifted his third trophy at Chelsea with their triumph at the Club World Cup
The Blues were crowned world champions for the first time in Abu Dhabi on Saturday night
Tuchel scooped his third trophy since moving to England little over a year ago in the UAE but has no plans on slowing down.
‘I’m a part in it (Chelsea’s continued success) and I’m happy to have the chance,’ the 2020/21 Coach of the Year told Channel 4.
‘We said before in the dressing room what an opportunity this is, everybody is jealous of us to play a game like this.
‘As a boy we all dream to have finals like this. We wanted to play with no regrets. There are still things to win, it never stops.’
Kai Havertz proved to be the man for the big occasion once again by slotting in his penalty
The victory seals Chelsea’s first Club World Cup, after spurning their chance back in 2012 as Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Co lost out to Corinthians.
Tuchel has reached every final available to him since taking over from Lampard in January last year, only falling short in a controversial FA Cup final defeat to Leicester.
‘Of course (I feel) relief,’ Tuchel continued.
‘In the end if you score late, you need luck to do it. We were relentless, we did not stop trying, we took the effort and didn’t give in.
‘We had the lead, then we lost it. But we never stopped attacking so I think it’s deserved but you need luck to score late.’
The Blues were pushed close with Tuchel having to give a crucial team talk during extra-time
Havertz has scored only 14 goals for Chelsea since arriving in the summer of 2020 but two of those have sealed major trophies. Despite criticisms of the German back in the Premier League he continues to perform on the biggest stage.
With Chelsea’s regular taker Joginho left on the bench, the 22-year-old cooly slotted home his penalty with the world watching – surely making a claim to replace his Italian team-mate as the No 1 spot-kick option.
‘The penalty does not look nervous but for sure he was, you can’t not be,’ the Blues boss added.
‘He knows what’s at stake but he has a good record of shooting (penalties) in 90 mins. We trusted the stats and I’m happy for him.’
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk