https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/04/26/ tuchel-rates-kovacic-s-chances-of-facing-real-and-admires--humbl Tuchel rates Kovacic's chances of facing Real and admires 'humble fighter' Azpilicueta 26 Apr 2021 Mateo Kovacic has been ruled out of tomorrow's Champions League semi-final in Madrid by Thomas Tuchel, with Saturday's hosting of Fulham now pencilled in as a possible return date for the Croatian. https://i.imgur.com/L3OEqE8.jpg Kovacic limped out of our final training session before the quarter-final second leg against Porto and has missed the past four matches with a muscle injury as a result. The issue will continue to sideline the midfielder for this week's European action, with Tuchel revealing that, as of Saturday evening, he had yet to train with the group at Cobham. 'At the moment, we're suffering a bit with our two number sixes because of the injury for Mateo,' explained Tuchel after our victory at West Ham. https://i.imgur.com/yWVJWkP.jpg Kovacic won't be fit for the first leg of our semi-final tie '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.' Kovacic's absence makes it likely that Jorginho and N'Golo Kante will continue in central midfield against Real Madrid, though the Chelsea head coach does have selection decisions to make in other areas. Cesar Azpilicueta was deployed at right wing-back against West Ham in order to add height at centre-back and Tuchel will have to decide whether to continue with that tactic or revert the Spaniard to his more familiar right-sided centre-back role on home turf. Either way, the boss has no doubts about his captain's ability to adapt and excel wherever he plays. 'He's fantastic and I want him absolutely to be on the pitch because he's a fantastic captain and a fantastic sportsman,' he continued. 'He is everything Chelsea means in my point of view – he's humble, he's a fighter, he thinks constantly about winning and he does everything to be in shape every three days. He's a true professional and there is no work too hard or distance too long for him. https://i.imgur.com/Qq8m5Rv.jpg The skipper gets tight against West Ham 'We used him as a wing-back and it was a bit hard because he had to do several long runs. It was a bit different for him but we chose the back three with Andreas, Toni and Thiago because we knew about West Ham's strength in set-pieces and we wanted to gain some centimetres in height. 'Azpi is totally open to anything once he sees the reason why. He was very excited to be involved a bit more offensively and it's nice to have this. The two positions [wing-back and full-back] suit him very well and he's absolutely reliable.' Tuchel will preview the Real tie in more detail at this afternoon's media conference from Cobham before the team fly out to the Spanish capital and he is under no illusions about the size of the task facing the Blues in Madrid. 'When you play against Real Madrid, it cannot be harder because they are the most experienced team in this competition,' he added. 'They're on a good run at the moment, 16 games unbeaten or something like that, so they will play these games with full confidence and full awareness. https://i.imgur.com/vBQNC4x.jpg 'I hope we can play adventurous and aggressive football. We will fight them hard and then let's see who gets the win out of these two games. It's a big challenge but after we will be smarter and better because this will be a huge experience together. 'When you are a little boy, you dream about games against Real Madrid and now it's here so we are very happy to arrive in a situation on this level.' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/04/26/ tuchel-updates-ahead-of-chelsea-match-vs-real-madrid Thomas Tuchel issues injury update ahead of Real Madrid challenge and talks about Eden Hazard 26 Apr 2021 Thomas Tuchel has confirmed only one of his squad will miss tomorrow's match in Madrid due to injury. https://i.imgur.com/wfgFo5y.jpg Mateo Kovacic will not be on Monday afternoon's flight to the Spanish capital ahead of the Champions League semi-final first leg. The midfielder has been out since suffering a muscle injury in training the night before our previous match in the competition two weeks ago. Speaking at his pre-match media conference on video from Cobham before travelling, Tuchel was asked for the latest injury update. 'It is a very short update,' he responded, 'because it is only Mateo Kovacic we are missing. Everyone else is available and everyone else will be in the squad for tomorrow. Tuchel quickly moved on to discussing the mood in that squad which is confident after a good win at West Ham at the weekend. 'We liked the way we deserved this win in a crucial match again,' he said. 'We have now several matches at the highest level because we play in the most demanding league in the Europe, so we have it almost every three days. In these competitions there are crucial matches and we delivered and we performed and we showed our skills and mentality in all the matches we play at Tottenham and Liverpool, and in the knockouts against Atletico and Porto and so on, and now again against West Ham. https://i.imgur.com/45a45YF.jpg 'It is the best way to arrive in a Champions League match, with a crucial win on our back. It is another experience that we have in our luggage, and it makes the bond very strong and close and tomorrow we need clearly a top-level team performance when we fight with Real Madrid for a place in the final.' Tuchel went on to explain that the experiences the players have together during these achievements are worth more than most words the coach can give as a boost to morale. 'Every match I feel we are able to play on a very high level and if it is not possible to play our nicest match,' he continued, 'we are always able to not let our opponents play their best match, which is also the definition of performance, to not let the others perform. 'I feel a strong bond within the squad and I feel us very involved physically in the games, ready work together and suffer together. If it is necessary to fight, we fight, if it is necessary to run, we run, if it is the moment to show your skills or to escape pressure with passing, or be dominant, we have in every match moments when we can do this. https://i.imgur.com/IXuZtfX.jpg Thomas Tuchel keeping a keen eye on final training before tomorrow's game in Spain 'The level is so high when you arrive in the semi-final of the Champions League. We should not expect crazy things from us but the same again on the highest level and we have the experience together, we have tough matches, tight and very important matches recently in Premier League and FA Cup. 'It is a good moment to play this match and we want to play hungry and adventurous. We maybe lack a bit of experience in a semi-final but we can compensate with hunger and enthusiasm.' Tuchel was also asked about Eden Hazard who Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane indicated today suffered no reaction to his return game on Saturday. Our head coach was asked if he has spoken to others around him at Chelsea about Hazard and whether he would prefer to play tomorrow with the Belgian in opposition or not. He explained he had no view either way on that one, adding: 'Eden is a top-quality player and he was the key player here for many years, in the hardest league, so I have the biggest respect for him. Of course we talk a lot because he was a big player here and many people know him really well. 'He is fit and he had a comeback in the last game for some minutes to be ready tomorrow. If he plays I am pretty sure he will want to make a point; let's see. Real have so many quality players we have to face the challenge with confidence.' -- ╔══╗╔╗╔╗╔══╗╔╗ ╔══╗╔══╗╔══╗ ║╔═╝║╚╝║║╔═╝║║ ║╔═╝║╔═╝║╔╗║ ║║ ║╔╗║║╔═╝║║ ╚═╗║║╔═╝║╚╝║ ║╚═╗║║║║║╚═╗║╚═╗╔═╝║║╚═╗║╔╗║ ╚══╝╚╝╚╝╚══╝╚══╝╚══╝╚══╝╚╝╚╝ --

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