Thomas Tuchel has revealed Chelsea will be travelling to Middlesbrough by plane for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final showdown at the Riverside Stadium after amending their special Government licence.
The Blues’ travel arrangements for this weekend’s Cup fixture were unclear amid sanctions imposed on owner Roman Abramovich by the UK Government.
After Abramovich’s British assets were frozen due to his link to Russian president Vladimir Putin, the west London club were granted a special licence to continue football operations last week.
Thomas Tuchel has revealed Chelsea will be travelling to Middlesbrough by plane on Saturday
One of the restrictions included a cap of £20,000 per match for travel expenses, which would have prevented Tuchel’s side from flying to North Yorkshire by plane for their clash with Boro.
Talk surfaced of Chelsea stars being forced to embark on a 10-hour coach journey to the Riverside, but Tuchel has confirmed they can now fly as usual after tweaking their Government licence.
‘Everybody worked hard to make it happen and it has gone through,’ the Blues head coach said at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
‘So it’s organised that we can travel by plane, which is very, very good because as you know, we had the last match (against Lille) with only two days in between to rest, and it’s very important to minimise the time of travel and maximise the time for recovery to reduce the risk of injury.
The Blues’ travel expenses were capped at £20,000 per match due to sanctions imposed on Roman Abramovich by the UK Government
There were fears that Tuchel’s side would have to embark on a 10-hour coach journey to Boro
But after amending their Government licence Chelsea can travel to North Yorkshire by plane
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‘So yeah, we’re very happy. Everything is organised as usual and we can prepare in a normal way.’
Chelsea will only have around 600 supporters – made up of away season ticket holders and hospitality season ticket holders – visiting Middlesbrough this weekend given they are currently unable to sell new match tickets.
After failing to amend their licence in time to sell tickets for Saturday’s fixture, the Blues released a controversial statement on Tuesday calling for the FA to move it behind closed doors despite Boro selling out their full allocation.
The statement, which insisted doing so was a matter of ‘sporting integrity’, sparked widespread outrage and subsequently forced them to perform an embarrassing U-turn by withdrawing the request.
But Chelsea’s ticket dilemma still goes on, and they face the grim prospect of playing their Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid next month in front of no supporters at Stamford Bridge.
The club sparked controversy by calling for Saturday’s game to be played behind closed doors
Having drawn Madrid in the draw for the last eight on Friday, Tuchel said: ‘There are sanctions for a certain reason and we also have to respect this. So I don’t think it makes much sense if I shout out that we have to protect integrity of the competition and make a huge point out of it.
‘We also have sanctions that we have to follow, like it or not, and now I have trust in the board, who are in dialogue with UEFA and the Government here, to find maybe an exemption and logic exemptions to find solutions [so] that the spectators can be in the stadium.
‘Of course we can see a point that it should not be put on the spectators not to attend matches like this, but it needs to be in the regularities and I’m absolutely sure and aware that the board is trying hard to find solutions for the situation.
‘But we all have to respect that we are in this situation and adapt to whatever comes.’