Thomas Tuchel has admitted he understands why there will be a backlash against Chelsea because of Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea boss Tuchel has also revealed his players have been left “worried and distracted” following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Labour MP Chris Bryant used parliamentary privilege to insist Russian billionaire Abramovich should not be able to own Chelsea because of his ties to Vladimir Putin.
Tuchel described the whole scenario as “horrible” but said he accepted there could be bad feeling towards Chelsea and it has cast a shadow over their preparations for the Carabao Cup final.
Tuchel said: “We are aware of it and it’s distracting us, it’s worrying us. To a certain degree I can understand it to such a degree the opinions and the critical opinions towards the club, towards us who represent that club. I can understand that and we cannot fully free ourselves from it.
“We should not pretend that this is not an issue. The situation in general, for me and for my staff and for everybody here at the training ground, for the players, is horrible.
“Nobody expected this. It’s pretty unreal, it’s clouding our minds, it’s clouding excitement towards the final and it brings huge uncertainty.
“Much more to all people and families who are actually in the moment more involved than us. And our best wishes and our regards and thoughts are obviously with them, which is absolutely most important.
“Maybe people understand that me as a coach or the players, we don’t have the insight what is really going on.
“At the moment we don’t feel responsible for all this. We feel that it is horrible and there can be no doubt about it. War in Europe was unthinkable for me for a long period.
“The impact is clear and the discussions have an impact. Let’s be a bit more patient and understand what the measurements will be and then we have to maybe deal with it.”
Tuchel admitted that it would be impossible for both him, his staff and his players to shut out the situation in Ukraine and said it is affecting them deeply.
Tuchel added: “I think the situation is too big and it is not an isolated situation somewhere. It concerns Europe, it’s in Europe and we are part of Europe. We cannot say let’s put this to the side. It’s the opposite.
“We have to live with it right now. There is no running away from it. There is no shutting the doors and now we focus on football. We are still privileged to live in peace and freedom right here where we are right now.
“And we are still privileged to have a game of football, to have an emotional but peaceful environment with fans in the stadium. We are very, very, very privileged, so this is a hardcore reality check right now. How privileged we are.
“And I don’t think this will go away, that my mind is clouded. It will not go away for anybody. The issue is too big.”
