Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel believes Antonio Rudiger will be fit to face Real Madrid in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night but Mateo Kovacic remains a serious doubt.
Rudiger
did not feature in the Blues’ 2-0 win against Fulham this afternoon having
suffered a facial injury in
the first leg against Los Blancos, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
Kovacic, meanwhile,
has been absent for almost three weeks having injured his hamstring ahead of
Chelsea’s Champions quarter-final second leg against Porto.
Tuchel
also revealed prior to the victory over Fulham that there were
fitness concerns over Cesar Azpilicueta, Christian Pulisic and N’Golo Kante.
Mason Mount also suffered a nasty fall against the Cottagers and was replaced
in the second half.
The Blues
boss was asked after the contest at Stamford Bridge for a fitness update on
those who didn’t start or feature, and was also questioned as to whether the
injury sustained by Mount had the potential to rule him out of Wednesday’s
game.
He told
Sky Sports: “I hope Mason’s [knock] isn’t a big thing and we took him off so
hopefully, he can fully recover for Real Madrid.
“I think
Toni [Rudiger] can play with a mask and everyone else who was on the bench
[against Fulham] will be totally fit for Wednesday. Mateo [Kovacic] will maybe
be too close but we still have hope.”
Chelsea
were not necessarily scintillating at Stamford Bridge today but they got the
job done against Fulham, who are almost certain to now fall back into the
Championship.
Kai
Havertz struck both goals in the victory and Tuchel was delighted with the
attitude and professionalism shown by his side.
“I’m very
proud because in between two big games, semi-finals, it’s so hard to be
full-on,” Tuchel explained. “We knew that Fulham give everybody a hard time,
you do not find matches in which their opponents have played brilliant
football.
“They
make you underperform, work hard, suffer. You can’t get confused by the table
because they’re near the bottom, absolutely not. That’s why I have the highest
respect for what we did today.
“It was
tough for us physically but we hung in the game, created some chances, and
could’ve decided the match early on. It was a tough one but a very important
win and that’s the best situation to arrive in on Wednesday.”
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