Chelsea were beaten by Arsenal in the FA Cup final this weekend and Frank Lampard came out of this loss with a series of injured players.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Pulisic both picked up hamstring injuries while Pedro and Willian are also injured and the manager has made it clear that none of them will likely be fit when Chelsea take on Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
“I don’t know the full extent of the injuries,” Lampard told reporters. “But I know the hamstrings with Azpi and Christian – they have to be scanned and assessed over the next few days.
“They clearly won’t be fit for next week. We didn’t have the luck with the injuries, and things all came together for us today in a way we wouldn’t want.
“Two hamstring injuries for Azpi and Pulisic, a dislocated shoulder for Pedro and Willian getting injured yesterday before the game.
“Kante wasn’t really fit for this game, it was only a maybe if we needed him depending on how the game was going and having to make the subs when I did, made it very difficult to risk him. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was out too, as we get to the end of a very long season.
“I’m not making excuses, because we didn’t perform well enough, but it felt like that was a tipping point with everything coming together at the same time.”
Frank Lampard has ruled Christian Pulisic, Cesar Azpilicueta and Pedro out of Chelsea’s Champions League tie with Bayern after they picked up injuries in the FA Cup final today. Jorginho and Marcos Alonso (both suspended) will also miss the game pic.twitter.com/2jwtZePpRT
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) August 1, 2020
Willian might still have a chance to be fit in time and take on the Bavarians but there’s no way that Azpilicueta and Pulisic will be fit in time to be available for selection.
The American international has been the standout player for the Blues since the resumption of the season and he will undoubtedly be a big miss in Germany.
Bayern already have a 3-0 lead from the first leg meaning Lampard will need all the firepower he can amass in order to turn this two-legged tie around. But if the Blues manager is missing all these important players then there’s no way Chelsea are going to progress to the next round.
