Chelsea star Christian Pulisic has accused former Blues boss Thomas Tuchel of misleading him over starting the Champions League semi-final second-leg clash against Real Madrid during the 2020/21 season.
The West London-outfit met Los Blancos in the last four of Europe's most prestigious club competition knowing a win would see them one game from the ultimate glory. During the first leg in Madrid, Pulisic actually put Chelsea in front before French superstar Karim Benzema levelled things up, leaving the tie in the balance for the return clash at Stamford Bridge.
Pulisic has since claimed the goal he scored in the Spanish capital was a direct result of him ignoring Tuchel's instructions to hang back instead of making a run into the opposition box.
Considering he netted Chelsea's goal, Pulisic can be forgiven for assuming he would be handed a start in the second-leg. He then had it confirmed to him from Tuchel directly, so it came as quite the shock when he was dropped to the bench for the visit of Madrid a week later.
Chelsea went on to win the game 2-0, sealing their place in the final and Pulisic still managed to make a vital contribution despite his surprise omission from the starting line-up. The American international set up Mason Mount's 85th minute strike to put the result beyond any doubt.
Writing in his book, 'Christian Pulisic: My Journey So Far', the 24-year-old explained: "What happened before that game was hugely disappointing for me. l’d had a really good first leg performance and our following match was against Fulham in the league.
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"Tuchel told me that he was resting me for the second leg and as a result I didn’t play a single minute in the Fulham game. Then on match day of the second semi, Tuchel tells me he’s changed his mind and he’s going with Kai [Havertz].
"I honestly was dumbfounded and very disappointed. I thought that I’d earned a start and, most importantly, he had assured me previously I was going to start. So by the time he brought me on with about 25 minutes left, I was just so wound up."
While Pulisic managed to channel his anger at the situation positively, the demise of his relationship with Tuchel at Chelsea comes as a surprise considering the pair had actually already worked closely together during their shared time at Borussia Dortmund.
There were not thought to be any notable rifts between the pair while at Dortmund, yet Tuchel was seemingly reluctant to entrust Pulisic for the bigger games of his Chelsea reign before his sacking earlier this month.
