Cesar Azpilicueta and Romelu Lukaku are major doubts for Chelsea's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Real Madrid, according to manager Thomas Tuchel.
The Blues recently lost 4-1 and 3-1 to Brentford and Real Madrid, respectively, but responded perfectly with a 6-0 league victory over Southampton on the road.
On the heels of two poor results, it was a bold statement. Chelsea will be full of confidence heading into the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday night.
Tuchel has admitted ahead of the encounter that he is unsure about the availability of Azpilicueta and Lukaku, who were both ruled out of the St Mary's trip for different reasons. Lukaku was forced to leave the game due to an injury. Tuchel has now admitted that the Belgian had not been training and was too ill to play against the Saints.
Cesar Azpilicueta, the club captain, was ruled out of the Saints match after testing positive for coronavirus. The pair are in a race against the clock to be ready for Chelsea. "He[Lukaku] wasn't in training yesterday because he was in too much agony," he told Chelseafc.com. We don't have much time; we only have two training sessions before we leave the nation on Monday. We'll have to wait because I don't have an answer right now."
After yesterday's win, the Blues hold an eight-point lead over Arsenal in fifth position. They are in a strong position to qualify for the Champions League next season with eight games remainin. However, for the time being, their primary goal will be to defend their European crown. While they were simply too good for the Saints, the challenge in Madrid will be quite different.
After battling with their high press, the Saints experienced a number of defensive problems. Chelsea can't expect anything similar against Madrid, who dominated at Stamford Bridge. With a stunning hat-trick, Karim Benzema put Chelsea's defense to the sword. It remains to be seen whether the Blues can stage a spectacular turnaround to reach the premier competition's final four.
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