Thomas Tuchel has provided an injury update on key Chelsea duo ahead of the Real Madrid clash
Speaking after Chelsea’s match against Southampton as quoted by Football London, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has provided an update on the availability of Romelu Lukaku and Cesar Azpilicueta ahead of the Real Madrid match.
Chelsea emerged victorious 6 goals to nil against Southampton in the Premier League today with braces from Mason Mount and Timo Werner along with a goal each from Marcos Alonso and Kai Havertz seeing the Blues through and helping them strengthen their hold on a top-4 spot.
The victory was much needed for Tuchel’s men after back to back losses against Brentford and Real Madrid. The win over the Saints will serve as a morale boost for the Blues whose confidence would have taken a hit following the untimely defeats.
“Azpi had a positive Covid test since yesterday. So I have no prediction about that. I don’t even know the rules about travelling and what’s going on. First of all, we need a negative test. We can’t do anything about that, just hope and wait.”
Two players who missed the game against the Saints yesterday were Romelu Lukaku and club captain Cesar Azpilicueta. Speaking about their absence from last night’s clash and availability for the game against Madrid, Tuchel was not too optimistic.
“Romelu I don’t know yet. He had pain and could not do the last training session. He wasn’t available for today and time is running. We leave the country again on Monday, so let’s see.”
If the duo miss out on the flight to Madrid on Monday, their absence would be a huge loss for the Blues. This is especially the case regarding Azpilicueta given how easily Real Madrid carved our defence open last week.
The Blues travel to the Spanish capital hoping to overturn a 3-1 deficit and produce the unthinkable by beating Madrid and qualifying for the semi-finals of the competition they won last year. With goals needed to accomplish the task, the absence of Lukaku could prove to be decisive, despite the player’s poor form.