“My family love him” – Tuchel heaps the praise on returning Chelsea star after sealing UCL progress
According to news from Metro, Thomas Tuchel was all praise for Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante for his performance against Porto. Chelsea might have lost the game but they progressed to the semi-finals on aggregate.
It was a tepid affair on Tuesday night as both sides pretty much kept each other at bay, with the only goal coming in injury time. It was a fabulous one from Mehdi Taremi though, with an overhead kick that left Edouard Mendy rooted to the spot.
Nonetheless, Chelsea did produce a solid performance over the course of 90 minutes to keep the tie in their favour.
Among some of the standout names was a certain N’Golo Kante, who was making his first start since his injury in the international break. Thomas Tuchel praised the French midfielder after the game.
‘In this situation [Kovacic’s injury], it was clear we use N’Golo. We take the risk because now is the moment to take the situation and put him on the field and hope he can have the energy for 90 minutes.
N’Golo is incredible. He’s like one and a half or two players. Everybody who sees him for the first time loves him. All my family love him when they watch our games now. It’s so nice to have him, he gives everybody confidence.’
Tuchel added that Kante has an excellent work rate, which gives every player encouragement. Kante did not start any of the three games prior to this. Chelsea will now prepare for a blockbuster FA Cup semi-final clash with Man City at the weekend.