Soccer-Chelsea not distracted by sanctions on director Tenenbaum, says Tuchel

(Reuters) - Chelsea are focused on Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace and have not been distracted by the British government imposing sanctions on club director Eugene Tenenbaum, manager Thomas Tuchel said on Friday.

The British government imposed sanctions on Tenenbaum in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, freezing his assets citing his close association with Chelsea's sanctioned owner Roman Abramovich.

"I don't know the implications and what it means for the club," Tuchel told reporters.

"Right now, it's not a further distraction. It's just one more of the same time... It's about the sale and the board, that process.

"It's no new subject so for me, from my point of view, that here at the training ground it is far from as big a distraction as you may think when you see it on TV as breaking news."

Tuchel said he was not aware of new developments in the proposed takeover of the club, adding that talks were still going on.

A consortium led by the Ricketts family later said they had pulled out of the running.

The German said Chelsea, who won the Champions League last season, were disappointed to be knocked out in the quarter-finals but they were happy with their display in the 3-2 second leg win at Real Madrid this week.

"We are all a bit in between. Confidence wise, I think it's a huge boost but it's a disappointment to go out of the Champions League at the quarter-finals," Tuchel said.

"We've got some training time now before our Sunday match and we will use it to sweat it out and be ready for Sunday."

Chelsea have a fit squad for Sunday's all-London affair against Palace, except for Ben Chilwell and Callum Hudson-Odoi, while Romelu Lukaku had returned to training and could be available.

GALLAGHER