Things were all going so well…
Chelsea were in the lead and looking good against Juventus, setting themselves up nicely to win the group.
Even better, with Romelu Lukaku and Timo Werner on the bench, the squad’s injury issues looked to be easing.
But just before half time, we’ve seen N’Golo Kante subbed off for Ruben Loftus-Cheek. It doesn’t look terribly bad – although he did go straight down the tunnel for treatment – and he would have carried on to half time if it was really minor.
Kante has been so carefully managed by both Thomas Tuchel and was even given a game off by France last week. These endless injuries are disrupting him every single season now, and it’s so frustrating given how brilliant a player he is.
The Manchester United game at the weekend looms large now. We can beat them without Kante – but it will be a hell of a lot easier with him.
