Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel showed a touch of class to give Weymouth’s players a post-match team talk after the Blues netted 13 goals in the friendly win.
The Blues made a perfect start to the new Premier League campaign, taking complete control against Crystal Palace in an easy 3-0 win on Saturday.
But Chelsea have one of the biggest and most talented squads in Europe, many of whom returned late to pre-season after the European Championships, leaving a number of then in need of minutes.
That saw the club arrange a friendly against Weymouth on Sunday at the club’s training centre to build up fitness for those who were not involved against Palace.
Reece James, Thiago Silva and Callum Hudson-Odoi all played – in a very strong line-up against the non-league side, while Batshuayi netted five goals and Barkley grabbed a hat-trick.
Ben Chilwell, Kurt Zouma, Emerson Palmieri, Ethan Ampadu, Kepa Arrizabalaga and Davide Zappacosta were also in the line-up, many of whom were involved in the Champions League final.
However, Tuchel was on the sidelines giving his players instructions, with the friendly far from just a mere fitness exercise.
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After the win, Weymouth’s players – the majority of whom are only semi-professional – looked shocked and dejected but Tuchel gathered them together and gave them a morale-boosting speech.
Weymouth manager Brian Stock revealed afterwards: ‘Thomas Tuchel came over and said some very nice words to us.’
He continued: ‘The whole experience has been brilliant and it’s something that I’m sure will live long in the memory of the players.
‘We knew when we saw the starting line-up that there were going to be some internationals, but I didn’t know they were going to field a whole team of them!
‘I’m pretty sure the majority of the players won’t play a team like that ever again in their lives – If they do, they’d have gone on to have a very good career!’
