Thomas Tuchel has given more details on the injury suffered by Trevoh Chalobah following Naby Keita’s challenge in the Carabao Cup final. That was a highly controversial incident as Keita escaped a red card even though his boot was very high and close to the defender’s groin area.
Referee Stuart Attwell did not penalise the Liverpool midfielder despite what had happened in that particular situation. Chalobah was furious with the ref as he took to his Twitter handle to express his discontent over the decision. He said, “Had to get stitches because of this. Referee is right there I don’t get it??”.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference (h/t Evening Standard), Tuchel has expressed that the 22-year-old centre-back had undergone surgery after the match in the dressing room. He added that the cut was close to the groin and needed to be addressed, prompting the medics to take quick action.
“There was surgery literally in our dressing room and I am not joking. They were stitching him up. After the match, after the press conference when I left they were doing the stitches. I just heard him scream. They had surgery. He was the only one with the doctors and I heard the noise. Seriously, it was a proper cut, very close to the area of the groin. It was open and it needed to be closed.”
It is baffling to see how the Reds star escaped a sending off even after the horror challenge that he committed. What makes matters worse is how VAR is supposed to address such matters and help the refs take the right decision. But to the surprise of many, Keita was not penalised for the foul he committed.
Things could have been a lot worse, judging by what the German manager has mentioned regarding the injury. Fortunately for the English central defender and us, there were not any complications, and he could be in line to feature in the FA Cup match against Luton Town later today.
We must commend the Blues star for carrying on with that blow and playing the entire ninety minutes, the extra time, and even scoring the penalty in the penalty shootout. Let’s hope that he recovers from the injury at the earliest so that we would not be on the receiving end of more setbacks.
One could reasonably argue that the ref cost us the final as a red card could have turned the tide in favour of us. We were arguably the better team on the night, and that boost could have been the nudge we needed to add another title to the bag. Now we are left in frustration by what had occurred in the League Cup final.
The Blues face Luton Town in the FA Cup tonight. With the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United already out of the competition, this could well be a very real chance for us to win at least one trophy this season. Understandably, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Chalobah misses this game in a bid to properly recover from his issue.
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