Antonio Rudiger has revealed that Chelsea found motivation in how Leicester City celebrated Saturday's FA Cup final win.
In unusual circumstances, the Wembley decider preceded a crucial Premier League clash between both teams on Tuesday night.
For Thomas Tuchel's side, a win at Stamford Bridge would mean that Chelsea's Champions League hopes were taken into their own hands.
The contrasting task at hand for Brendan Rodgers' Leicester City was to avoid defeat if at all possible. In the end, a 2-1 win for Chelsea means that the Foxes could now miss out on Champions League football in dramatic circumstances for the second season running.
Speaking to Chelsea TV in the aftermath of Tuesday's game, Antonio Rudiger suggested that Leicester partially have themselves to blame for that.
Between both games a clip emerged of Leicester City's Daniel Amartey throwing a pennant with the Chelsea logo on it over his shoulder in the team's Wembley dressing room.
Rudiger admitted that the Ghanaian's stunt would up his opponents on Tuesday night.
"Unfortunately some people in the Leicester team don't know how to celebrate," he announced after the crucial win for Chelsea, "and we had to punish them, 100%.
"Some of them gave us a bit more motivation after Saturday. Congratulations to them for winning, celebrate and everything, but don't disrespect club history.
Chelsea's Jorginho celebrates scoring their side's second goal of the game during the Premier League match at Stamford Bridge, London.For Rodgers and Leicester, they now have to hope that one of Liverpool or Chelsea slip up in their run-ins to allow a late charge at the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp's team are currently three points off Leicester in fourth but any sort of win tonight against Burnley will take them into the qualification places.
Meanwhile, Leicester will host Tottenham Hotspur on the final day of the season.
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