Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that injured duo Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham remained sidelined and will miss tomorrow’s Champions League tie with Atletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge, alongside suspended pair Jorginho and Mason Mount.
The German head coach revealed that both Thiago and Tammy will sit out of the Round of 16 second leg against the La Liga leaders but hopes the duo will return to action after the international break.
Thomas Tuchel will have to make do without two midfielders for this clash, which we hold a narrow 1-0 aggregate lead from the first leg in Bucharest, with Jorginho and Mount suspended as Diego Simeone brings his Atleti side to the Bridge.
‘We have no fresh injuries but we are are without two key players for us tomorrow in Mount and Jorginho,’ Tuchel explained at his pre-match press conference.
‘Especially with Mason for his offensive skills and his power to break the lines with strong dribbling and his shots.
Atletico are one of the best teams in Europe for not giving shooting chances away, so of course it’s a blow to miss an offensive player for a game such as this one.
‘They are important players for us but we have a strong group and we have to adapt and find solutions to this.
‘We also need to work without Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham for this game. They are not quite right yet but with an international break now coming, I don’t think there is too much risk in me saying that we expect them to join us again after the international break.
‘So we are missing four key players for this game but that makes the selection a little bit easier, because we can select 23 players in the Champions League.
‘We will use the whole squad. We can make five substitutes during the match, so we have a clear idea of what we can do.’
