Rafael van der Vaart is not pleased with the performance of manager Thomas Tuchel during the press conference on Tuesday evening. After the elimination from the Champions League, the Chelsea coach admitted that he was annoyed by a chat between referee Szymon Marciniak and Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti. As an analyst at Ziggo Sports Van der Vaart let us know on Wednesday evening that he was greatly disturbed by the frustrations at Tuchel.
Despite a 2-3 win after extra time, Chelsea were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after a previous 1-3 loss in London. A moment of contact between the arbiter and Ancelotti after the final whistle went badly for Tuchel. “I saw the referee laughing out loud with the opponent’s coach. That was at the wrong time, shortly after the final whistle of a 120-minute game in which a team gave their all and fought to the last gasp. You step off the field and see the referee laughing at the other coach. That timing is very, very bad,” said the manager.
Van der Vaart does not understand why Tuchel was so disturbed. “I like respect. If you win respect to the opponent, and if you lose I think respect is even more beautiful. Carlo Ancelotti, for example, never does anything wrong. Never. But then you see this dragon… I just call it a dragon, and I don’t care if they start tapping along already. If I had been his assistant I would have said, ‘Losing is fine, but do it with style.’”
“They are playing a fantastic game and this is a great coach, I am one hundred percent convinced of that. But if you lose and you give this interview… that’s what makes me cook. They call this one of the best coaches in the world. Well, not now. In the end, this just comes off as really bad. You shouldn’t shout this. As a coach you just have to say that you are proud of your team. It’s very interesting whether a referee is smiling or not,” says Van der Vaart.