Emotional Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel snaps over Roman Abramovich question
"You have to stop! Honestly!" Tuchel snapped at reporters as he reminded them he was not a politician
An emotional Thomas Tuchel snapped at reporters as the Chelsea boss faced repeated questions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine and owner Roman Abramovich.
An impassioned Tuchel spoke about his unease of war in Europe and said it was important Chelsea stayed "focused" and offered a "distraction" to supporters and football fans.
But as questions kept straying from sport to politics the Chelsea boss told reporters to stop, and reminded them he was not a politician.
"You have to stop! Honestly!" Tuchel said.
"I have never experienced war, so even to talk about it I feel bad because I feel very privileged, I sit here in peace and I do the best I can but you have to stop asking me these questions - I have no answers for you!" he explained.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is attempting to broker peace between Russia and Ukraine.
The Russian-Israeli billionaire handed "stewardship and care" of Chelsea to the club foundation's trustees on Saturday, in a move aimed to protect the Stamford Bridge club.
Asked if he had any worries over Chelsea’s future, Tuchel replied: "I’m not so sure if I’m the person to give messages to the fans for anything other than sport.
"We try to be calm here, we are calm in the centre of a storm, of some noise around us that we cannot control and we are not responsible for.
"It’s best to stay calm and focus on what we do and what we love, which is sport."
"And this is what we can do for the fans, to distract them, to entertain them, and do what we do with a maximum effort and a maximum commitment.
"I don’t see any other solution for what we could do differently," he added.
Roman Abramovich handed over care of the club to protect Chelsea moving forward, in a move that would not protect the billionaire from any UK government sanctions.
The trustees of the Chelsea Foundation have submitted a serious incident report to the Charity Commission, to seek clarity on how to enact Abramovich’s plans.