Chelsea receive timely boost
Veteran players Luiz, Cahill start training ahead of Bayern clash
CHELSEA central defenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill are hopeful they will be fit for Saturday’s Champions League final against Bayern Munich after completing their first training session following hamstring injuries.
“I’m so happy that I come back to training today,” Luiz told reporters after playing a full part on Tuesday. “I did 100% at the session and I’m so happy for this.”
Cahill added: “There’s some work to be done in two or three days now leading up to the game for me to get back into it.
“If I need to do a little bit of other training, I’ll do that. But, touch wood, there’s no reaction from today. I felt fine out there.”
Luiz has not played for a month while England international Cahill has missed the last five games with a similar injury.
Chelsea’s caretaker manager Roberto di Matteo is hoping to avoid what he described on Tuesday as the “worst-case scenario” with reserves and youngsters on the bench for the Saturday Champions League final.
Di Matteo, whose future at Chelsea is far from certain, said he faced one of the biggest challenges of his career especially as his team travel to Bayern’s Allianz Arena have four players suspended and three senior men battling through injuries.
Captain John Terry, defender Branislav Ivanovic and midfielders Raul Meireles and Ramires are all banned from the final while Di Matteo said Florent Malouda was “touch and go”.
Like Luiz and Cahill, the french international is struggling after pulling a hamstring during the first half of Sunday’s final Premier League home win over Blackburn Rovers.
Di Matteo told a packed marquee at Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, south of London: “Flo (Malouda), we’ll still assess and it’s going to be touch and go for him to be available for Saturday.”
Di Matteo would be forced to complete his bench with reserves and youngsters if Luiz and Cahill were also out.
“That’s the worse-case scenario,” he said. “We will take some reserveteam players onto the bench, into the squad, and just figure out what to do. I’ve been trying different options in training and different solutions just in case.”
While Saturday’s game could be Di Matteo’s last in charge of Chelsea, he said all he was thinking about after the final was having a holiday.
He refused to be drawn on a possible move back to one of his former clubs, West Bromwich Albion, after being sacked from there last year.
“In my life, I’ve gone back to an ex-girlfriend and it didn’t work out. I’m not sure whether it’s the right move,” he said.
Di Matteo did not think Chelsea had gained any advantage after Bayern lost the German Cup final 5-2 to Borussia Dortmund in Berlin on Saturday.
“I don’t think that will have any effect on the Bayern team,” he told reporters. “They are extremely professional and they will move on from it very quickly as they know they have a big game on Saturday ...”
He also played down the idea that Bayern would benefit from playing the game in their own stadium.
“It might give them a bit of an advantage because they know the environment and the pitch, but because they are playing at home there might be more pressure on them so I am not sure it gives them a real advantage at all.” — Reuters