We were surprised to see Mateo Kovacic on the bench against Brentford last weekend, but we were sure he was just being rested for the Real Madrid game in midweek.
When he didn’t start that game either we were truly stunned, and we can only imagine how the player himself felt.
He was asked about it in the presser today, and denied he had been upset by his coach’s call.
“You cannot play 20 players at once,” he said, in a very understanding way. We’re sure Thomas Tuchel won’t make the same mistake again tomorrow night.
You can see the midfielder speaking in the clip embedded here, with this question coming after one minute: