Thomas Tuchel says he is ‘not sure’ whether Romelu Lukaku will be passed fit ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League clash with Juventus.
Chelsea welcome the group leaders to Stamford Bridge in a crucial clash tomorrow evening, with the west Londoners capable of securing qualification to the knockout stages if they avoid defeat in the capital.
Tuchel has provided an update on his squad and says Lukaku will be assessed ahead of the clash, the Belgium international having been sidelined with an ankle injury in recent weeks.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, the Chelsea boss confirmed Lukaku remains a doubt despite returning to training, whilst Kai Havertz is also expected to miss the clash after sustaining a hamstring injury during the weekend win at Leicester.
“Not sure yet,” he said of the Chelsea number nine. “He seemed ok in training yesterday, we will see about the reaction. He has an appointment with the doctors and physios. Maybe we can bring 20 players to the squad. The last minutes would be the absolute maximum.
“Jorginho is absolutely OK. Kai had a hamstring problem so we took him off and we have some doubts with him. This is more or less the question mark.”
Chelsea need to beat Juventus to have any chance of progressing to the knockout stages as group winners, though Tuchel insists the holders will not risk qualification in their pursuit of top spot.
“We will not risk our qualification and go all in if the situation is like this but we will try everything to win the game and the group and to do this, we have to win the game.”
