https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2021/05/04/
tuchel-rules-kovacic-out-against-real-madrid-and-updates-on-chel
Tuchel rules Kovacic out against Real Madrid and updates on Chelsea
contract talks
04 May 2021
Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that tomorrow night's Champions League
semi-final second leg with Real Madrid will come too soon for Mateo
Kovacic.
https://i.imgur.com/qdPoSU1.jpg
The Croatian has been sidelined since injuring himself ahead of our
quarter-final win over Porto and although our German head coach was
hopeful of Kovacic returning for this game, the boss revealed at his
pre-match press conference that the midfielder will not be able to feature
against his former side.
There is better news, however, on Toni Rudiger, who is available for
selection and will wear a protective mask against the La Liga side if
selected.
'I can give you the status right now which is that Mateo will not be in
the squad,' Tuchel confirmed.
https://i.imgur.com/X4nVRao.jpg
Kovacic remains sidelined
'I think Toni will be fine to play with a mask and he trained with us
yesterday. Everyone else trained yesterday too and will be out training
with us later today.
'Hopefully we will have no new injuries from today's training, so that
means everyone is available for the match except for Mateo Kovacic.'
The Blues head into this crunch second leg level pegging but with an away
goal under our belts courtesy of Christian Pulisic, following the 1-1 draw
in the Spanish capital a week ago.
Tuchel believes there is more to come from his side and that his players
will head into tomorrow night's showdown at Stamford Bridge with the
belief they can reach the Champions League final and follow Chelsea Women,
who did exactly that by beating Bayern Munich over the weekend.
'We feel we can do this,' added Tuchel. 'They [Chelsea Women] did it after
a difficult first leg and showed belief.
'We feel we can be stronger. Now we have rested players, we had three days
in between games for rest, the challenge is to keep the intensity going
throughout the whole match.
https://i.imgur.com/zRW3THj.jpg
Tuchel on Chelsea Women making UCL final: "We are very happy because we
are one club"
'It is a semi-final. The pressure is on, it's a knockout game and so to
arrive with a level of belief and confidence is necessary, or we will have
no chance.'
The boss was also asked about whether discussions had taken place with
regards to a new long-term contract at Chelsea…
https://i.imgur.com/gK3zzG2.jpg
The boss says it is 'not the time' to talk about his contract
'No, nothing on that,' confirmed Tuchel. 'It is not the right time. There
is no time for this right now.'