Chelsea's attacking midfielder star Mason Mount says that he and the rest of the team allowed their football to do the 'talking on the pitch' amid the off-pitch drama surrounding the club. The government's special license meant only 600 Blues fans could attend the 2-0 win against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup.
The club had faced a logistical nightmare ahead of the clash at the Riverside Stadium, with sanctions meaning that no new tickets could be sold. As a result, around 500-600 travelling supporters have made the trek up to Teeside but these are fans that had already purchased their tickets before Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK Government. With the process of a takeover already in progress, the club initially moved to request the game be played behind closed doors for 'sporting integrity' reasons. Words that received a big backlash from the wider footballing community, as Middlesbrough and their chairman unleashed a tirade on Bruce Buck and the higher ups in west London.
Prior to kick-off in Teesside, the fans in the ground made themselves loud but some supporters even went to Stamford Bridge to make their feelings clear to Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries alike who have been part of the government who made the decision to not allow extra ticket sales to games after the Russian oligarch was sanctioned. Not only were Chelsea not able to fill out their away end in this FA Cup tie but as it stands with the EU sanctioning of Abramovich coupled with the special license in effect that was placed upon the club by the government, supporters are set to miss the Real Madrid Champions League knockout tie.
READ MORE: Alan Shearer slams Chelsea's Bruce Buck and Marina Granovskaia after 'pathetic' FA Cup request
Despite all the off-field drama, Mount insists that the players are not paying attention to events off the field. When reflecting upon the performance and result, the 23-year-old said on the BBC: "It was never going to be a comfortable night, they’ve been on an unbelievable run.
"You see the teams they’ve beat recently in the cup so, it was never going to be easy. Coming here with the fans behind them, not many fans here for us tonight but, I felt we let our football do the talking and that was the main goal for us tonight."
He then added: "It really shows our mentality. There’s a lot going on around us, but within the group we have so much focus. We try to block everything out around us and focus as much as we can on our football. We keep training every day and working hard and hopefully get as many wins as we can."
It's a level maturity not only seen off the pitch but also on i,t with football.london rating the Three Lions international a whopping 9 out of 10. With a high score like that, no wonder Alan Shearer waxed lyrical when asked about the performance of the Englishman post-match.
"He's always dictating play, he always wants to give and go, get on the end of it. He’s very difficult to pick up and mark because he’s always on the move," the Newcastle legend said on the BBC.
"He's comfortable with receiving the ball and comfortable running with it as well. He’s definitely one of the first names on Gareth Southgate’s team sheet. You don’t have to tell good players to work hard, he just does it."
Shearer then added after hearing his interview: "23-years-old. What a future, what a time he’s already had in football and he’s only going to get better. Every manager he’s had has appreciated him, and rightly so, they’ve all talked about him highly in terms of being a right professional. He’s a class act on the pitch."
