Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel says Edouard Mendy has “never been fully free of mistakes” but has backed the goalkeeper to recover from his mistake in the Champions League.
Widely regarded as one of the best custodians in world football, Mendy was caught out by Karim Benzema at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, with the French striker able to score his hat-trick when pressing the Senegalese international into a mistake.
The fact that Benzema managed something similar against Liverpool’s Loris Karius in the 2018 Champions League final speaks to a player capable of creating and pouncing on opportunities but Mendy has not always been entirely commanding of late.
Some lax passing almost allowed Ivan Toney to score before Brentford thrashed Chelsea 4-1 at Stamford Bridge only days before the Madrid game, while Tuchel has previously admitted Mendy “lost confidence” after a poor game during a loss at West Ham.
Clearly, it would be foolish to write off a player to have won both the Champions League and the Africa Cup of Nations, as well as a number of individual awards, over the past year and Tuchel has offered some perspective.
‘He was never fully free of mistakes, also not last season, but we helped him,’ said Tuchel.
‘It’s bad timing to do a mistake like this in a quarter-final, such a big occasion like this, one of the worst moments. I hope it doesn’t affect his self-confidence too much, because accepting mistakes is also what goalkeeping is about, living with mistakes, and going back and helping your team. Now he can prove he is a true champion.’
