Chelsea have to travel by bus to the FA Cup away game at Middlesbrough, which is scheduled for Saturday. This was confirmed by coach Thomas Tuchel on Tuesday. That puts the Blues a roughly five-hour drive to the north of England ahead of them, as sanctions imposed by the UK government prohibit them from spending more than £20,000 on an away trip.
A flight would exceed this limit, so Chelsea is dependent on the bus. With Kai Havertz, however, the club has someone on board who has offered to pay the bill. “I would pay, that’s no problem,” said the German at the press conference before the Champions League game against Lille: “I don’t think it would be a big deal for us.” There are far worse things happening in the world right now. The question of whether Chelsea is arriving by bus or plane is irrelevant.
Chelsea coach Tuchel not as relaxed as Havertz
Thomas Tuchel saw it less relaxed: “It’s not about luxury or bling-bling,” said the coach: “It’s just a professional level in sport where we have to deal with two days between games while our opponent has four days has in between.” This is also a problem in terms of possible injuries. However, there are no excuses.
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The game against Middlesbrough is the reigning Champions League winners’ first game to be directly affected by the sanctions. Last week, the British government fined Chelsea over club owner Roman Abramovich’s links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian businessmen, who were also sanctioned.
Wednesday’s Champions League away game in Lille is not affected as travel arrangements were made before the sanctions were imposed.
Chelsea are calling for a ghost game in Middlesbrough
Chelsea are also still not allowed to sell tickets for their own games. The club announced this again on Tuesday. Despite ongoing talks with the authorities, the decision remains the same. Not only the games at Stamford Bridge are affected, but also the away game in Middlesbrough.
The club announced that it had asked the English Football Association FA for the cup game to be played as a ghost game, i.e. without spectators in the stands. “We believe this is the fairest solution under the circumstances,” said Chelsea.
This approach quickly caused malice and outrage on social media. After all, guest fans have also not been allowed at Stamford Bridge since last week. And opponents Middlesbrough were not very enthusiastic either. In a statement, they described the move as “bizarre in every way and completely unfounded.” The sanctions have “nothing to do with Middlesbrough FC” and the application is therefore “not only extremely unfair, but without any basis” and “highly ironic”.
However, it is unlikely that the FA will agree to this.
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