Concussion scare ends Pedro’s tour
PEDRO has been forced home from Chelsea’s pre-season tour after he suffered concussion during Saturday’s friendly victory over Arsenal.
The 29-year-old Spain international left the pitch midway through the first half of the 3-0 win over the Gunners at Beijing’s Bird’s Nest Stadium after a heavy collision with goalkeeper David Ospina.
Manager Antonio Conte was hopeful Pedro could join his team-mates on the next leg of their tour – Tuesday’s clash with Bayern Munich at Singapore’s National Stadium – but the club confirmed yesterday morning that the winger would return to England for further observation. A statement from the club read: “Pedro stayed in hospital overnight in Beijing for observation having sustained a concussion and facial injuries. He will now return to London for further review.” Pedro posted a picture on Twitter, giving a thumbs-up from his hospital bed with the message: “Fortunately everything is OK.”
Michy Batshuayi was on target in each half as Chelsea saw off their Premier League rivals after Willian opened the scoring in China.
But the champions were forced to apologise after the match after admitting Instagram posts by Kenedy had caused “great offence and hurt the feelings of the people of China”.
The 21-year-old defender posted two videos, one with a caption which translated as “F*** you China” and another of a security guard asleep which was tagged: “Wake up China. You idiot.” He has since apologised and deleted the posts and said it was “not intentional” to cause any offence. Chinese fans accused Kenedy of xenophobia and racism.
“Hello my friends, just wanna say sorry if someone was sad because I used the expression ‘porra’, was no racism, just an expression... big hug” he wrote after the game.
A Chelsea statement said the player had been “strongly reprimanded and disciplined”.