Thomas Tuchel confirms ‘serious’ incident between Antonio Rudiger and Kepa Arrizabalaga

Chelsea's Antonio Rudiger celebrates [REUTERS/Russell Cheyne]

Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel admits that there was a "serious" incident between defender Antonio Rudiger and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga at the club's Cobham training base on Sunday.

The pair are said to have become embroiled in a heated argument which led to Rudiger being removed from training by Chelsea staff.

Both Rudiger and Kepa were unused substitutes in Chelsea's 5-2 Premier League defeat at home to West Brom the previous day, and it is said that the argument originated from something that was said on the bench between the pair.

Blues boss Tuchel addressed the incident at his press conference ahead of Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final first leg against Porto in Seville.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was serious," said Tuchel.

"Sometimes you have little, little, little situations where you maybe look away and let them sort things out alone.

"This was not the case.

Chelsea's Kepa Arrizabalaga [REUTERS/Eddie Keogh]

"We needed to interfere, we needed to interfere in the situation so the situation was serious.

"But how the guys themselves handled the situation was also impressive and also showed a lot of character.

"But the situation was serious.”

Despite his manager's take on the situation, Blues defender Marcos Alonso has sought to play down the incident.

“These are things that happen,” he told beIN Sports.

“It shows the level of competition that is in the team, the hunger we show even on the training ground and it is good for the team.”

"Even before training finished it was all good.

"Nothing new, it has always happened.

“It will happen again. We have to take the positive and move on and get ready for the next game.”