Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel fully resonates with Patrick Vieira\u2019s frustrations over the Blues\u2019 decision to block loanee Conor Gallagher from playing in this weekend\u2019s FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n
Youngster Gallagher is currently doing extremely well on loan at Selhurst Park, but will unfortunately not be playing in the Wembley showdown after the Blues flatly turned down Palace\u2019s special request to allow him to feature against his parent club.<\/p>\n
Palace boss Vieira said: \u2018It\u2019s not the best rule because the only one who will lose is Conor.<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s a semi-final, it\u2019s a really exciting game about how you will manage yourself and prepare yourself to play that game, then there\u2019s playing that kind of game and the importance of it.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s an experience the player is missing and I\u2019m disappointed for him. He has played all the games so far and if there\u2019s somebody who deserves to be in the semi-final, it\u2019s him because of his performances, so I\u2019m disappointed he won\u2019t be able to play.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tuchel responded to Vieira\u2019s comments ahead of Sunday\u2019s semi-final and said he had actually bumped into Gallagher earlier and had even apologised regarding the club\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u2018I had the chance to speak to Conor and I could also see his frustration,\u2019 Tuchel told reporters on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u2018We met some weeks ago after the international break by coincidence in a restaurant and we had a chat.<\/p>\n
\u2018The subject came up and I apologised because I know how competitive he is and I like him a lot and I know his character and it was a pleasure to have him here in pre-season. That\u2019s the way it is, we play to win the game and the rules were clear when we made the loan.<\/p>\n
\u2018And I also totally understand Patrick Vieira and the disappointment of Conor of course but these were the rules when we did the loan and we don\u2019t want to suffer from our rules.\u2019<\/p>\n
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