Thomas Tuchel is taking his press conference ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid tomorrow, and he had some serious team news to declare.
Firstly, he didn’t mess around, and ruled out Thiago Silva. It had been noted that the Brazilian wasn’t training today, and Tuchel admitted right away that he wasn’t going to travel to Bucharest.
Then there is good news on two players who will at the very least travel for the away game – Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic.
Tuchel on fitness: "Thiago Silva is not available right now." #CFC
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) February 22, 2021
Tuchel says both Havertz and Pulisic are fit for Atleti. #CFC #UCL
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) February 22, 2021
Frankly, we’d rather have Silva back and Pulisic and Havertz out. It’s not that they’re bad players, just that it seems we have plenty of options in their areas of the pitch.
Meanwhile every game we play without Silva in the team feels like a coin toss over whether everything collapses at the back. For this game at least, he feels like the biggest loss we could have had.
It is sad and worrimg for not having thiago travelling with the rest of squard.get well soon t.silva
Ziyech must play on that day because he is fit