Chelsea is ready to play against Porto in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and the boss Thomas Tuchel has listed a fit squad ahead of the clash but has yet to make a decision on N’Golo Kante’s involvement. Thomas Tuchel spoke on N’Golo Kante engagement in the team for the next clash stating he will make a late decision on the fitness of the 30-year-old midfielder.
When on international duty with France, Kante suffered a hamstring injury and made a surprise comeback to the squad on the matchday of the first leg against Porto but featured only in the last 10 minutes of the game.
Chelsea will visit Seville to play against Porto in the Champions League return leg. The London club is 90 minutes away from the Champions League semi-finals after 2014 and speaking to the media on the Blues team, Tuchel revealed he had yet to make a decision on how he would use Kante on Tuesday night in Seville.
“First of all, I was unbelievably happy when he said he would travel with us to Seville last week,” said Tuchel.
“The plan was for him to return against Palace, so he came back earlier than expected, and I was so happy he could feature against Porto in the first leg. He helped us in the final 10 or 15 minutes with his quality and defensive work.”
“The downside to that is that he lost a little bit of sleep, rest and workload for training the next day, because of the travel we had to do and not getting back to London until the early hours of the morning,” said the German manager.
“He couldn’t train the next day like he usually does, so we decided again to bring him on from the bench against Crystal Palace. This is the decision we made and we will manage him in the best way we can.”
He added: “It’s difficult to imagine playing a game like this without N’Golo, so I think it is important we do look at him tomorrow before making a decision. We absolutely have to be careful with him.”
“I will take a look at him after training tonight and see how he is in the morning before deciding whether he should start or whether he can be used from the bench again.” “The question for tomorrow is whether we want N’Golo to start or do we absolutely want him to finish the game,” Tuchel concluded.
