Thomas Tuchel heaps praise on Chelsea star, says “the guy suffers all the time from my decision”

Thomas Tuchel has praised Emerson Palmieri for shelving his personal ambitions to help foster a new squad spirit at Chelsea.

Blues boss Tuchel conceded he sent Emerson into the closing stages of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid mainly as a “thank you” for his positive attitude.

The Italy left-back quickly returned the favour, scoring Chelsea’s second goal as they secured a first Champions League quarter-final in seven years. Emerson was mobbed by his team-mates after sealing the Blues’ 2-0 win at Stamford Bridge and 3-0 aggregate victory over Atletico in the last-16 tie.

And Tuchel praised the former Roma defender for never once letting his head drop, despite being behind Ben Chilwell and Marcos Alonso in Chelsea’s left-back pecking order.

“I’m so happy for him, the guy suffers all the time from my decision,” said Tuchel. “We have three players for one position with Marcos Alonso, Ben Chilwell and Emerson. So we started to play with a back three and chose different players so he only had the chance to show up in one cup game, which he did.

“After some days where he needed to settle to new information and a new style, he is training with an unbelievable effort. He is one of the nicest guys you can imagine.

“He’s always friendly, with unbelievable qualities. It was necessary to give him a reward and give him some minutes as a thank you for his attitude.

“It is the perfect example. You see what comes back, we get such a big reward, everybody celebrating and everybody happy for him because I truly believe everybody in the group feels what he is doing for the group.”