Thomas Tuchel Distances Himself From Chelsea's Controversial Request To FA

Thomas Tuchel has admitted that Chelsea's decision to ask for Middlesbrough fans to be barred from Saturday's FA Cup quarter-final was "not the very best idea".

He also claimed that he and the Chelsea players had nothing to do with it.

A club statement issued on Tuesday revealed that Chelsea had submitted a request to the Football Association for the game at Middlesbrough be played in an empty stadium.

Chelsea had only sold around 600 tickets from their allocation of 4,620 when the UK government halted further sales.

This came after Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned for his alleged links to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel pictured in December

IMAGO/Nick Potts

Abramovich has also been the subject of a recent BBC investigation which claims to have uncovered new evidence about the corrupt deals that made his fortune.

Chelsea were granted a special license to allow them to continue fulfilling fixtures but the club was no longer permitted to make money while under the ownership of Abramovich.

After being unable to sell additional tickets for their game at Middlesbrough, Chelsea wanted the match to be played in front of no fans at all, citing "matters of sporting integrity".

This drew widespread condemnation from fans, including their own, while Middlesbrough hit back in a statement.

"Given the reasons for these sanctions, for Chelsea to seek to invoke sporting 'integrity' as reason for the game being played behind closed doors is ironic in the extreme," Middlesbrough's statement read.

Chelsea withdraw the request in an embarrassing climbdown.

A statement from the FA later on Tuesday read: "After constructive talks between the FA and Chelsea, the club has agreed to remove their request for the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final tie against Middlesbrough to be played behind closed doors.

“The FA remains in ongoing discussions with Chelsea, the Premier League and the Government to find a solution that would enable both Chelsea fans to attend games and away fans to attend Stamford Bridge, whilst ensuring sanctions are respected."

A day later, Chelsea reached the quarter-finals of another competition as they beat Lille 4-1 on aggregate in the Champions League.

Speaking after the second leg in France, Tuchel spoke about the club's PR own goal surrounding their upcoming trip to Middlesbrough.

Tuchel said, as quoted by the Daily Mail: "Let me put it like this. We love to play in front of spectators and I don't think our opponents should suffer from the consequences.

"It was not the very best idea. Me and the team were not involved in this decision."