Thomas Tuchel was sacked by Chelsea in September.
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.
Despite his poor form, the Belgian whilst at his best is undeniably a goal scorer and if he could have one of his fabled nights, then the 3-1 deficit might not seem as daunting after all.
Meanwhile, Azpilicueta would have expected to start the game against the Spanish giants but his loss is something that Tuchel could solve. He is not short of options at centre-back and with Reece James returning, right-back will also not be an issue.
The Spaniard’s leadership however will be missed but with players like Thiago Silva in the side, it is an area that can be covered up. The Blues have a huge task in front of them and it remains to be seen if they overcome the hurdle.
Tuchel will be hoping both Azpilicueta and Lukaku manage to recover and make it to Madrid but he will have to come up with alternative solutions if both players fail to board the plane.
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