Mateo Kovacic Chelsea
Mateo Kovacic Chelsea

Chelsea take on Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final this week and midfielder Mateo Kovacic has been ruled out from the first leg.

The Premier League side travel to Spain to take on Madrid on Tuesday and Tuchel has made it clear that Kovacic will not be travelling with the squad since he’s yet to recover from his muscle injury.

‘At the moment, we’re suffering a bit with our two number sixes because of the injury for Mateo,’ Tuchel said after the West Ham United win.

‘Hopefully he can come back against Fulham but he did not train with the team yet so I think that Tuesday will be too early unfortunately. He was so happy to play against his former team-mates and he is a crucial player for us.

‘He could have helped a lot in the last games against Brighton and West Ham with his technique and his ball runs but it’s like this. The team is doing an amazing job and we have to keep on going.’

The absence of Mateo Kovacic means N’Golo Kante and Jorginho will pair up in defensive midfield and this could be a real problem against a team like Real Madrid.

Madrid’s two midfield maestros Kroos and Luka Modric love to sit deep and pull the strings so Mateo Kovacic would have been the ideal player to push forward and force these players into errors.

 

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But with Kante and Jorginho on the pitch, we doubt if Kroos and Modric will be troubled too much on the ball.

Chelsea will need to be on their toes and will somehow need to stop Real Madrid from taking control of the middle of the pitch on Tuesday night. Also, while players like Kante and Jorginho can be great ball snatchers, they will never have the same sort of impact going forward as Kovacic.

With the 26-year-old ruled out, Chelsea will undoubtedly lose pace in attacking scenarios which is kind of a big issue since the English side are already struggling to score goals under their new manager.

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