Chelsea hold an excellent 1-0 half-time advantage in our two-legged Round of 16 tie against La Liga-leaders Atlético Madrid, but we could be down four players for Wednesday’s second leg.
Thiago Silva and Tammy Abraham will likely remain out — Tuchel should confirm one way or another a bit later today — just as they have been for the past month or so, with Silva suffering another setback last week in his bid to recover from a thigh injury, and Abraham still not over his ankle injury either. And while we’ve been managing to get by without our best defender of the season and our leading goal-scorer, the absences of suspended midfield duo Mason Mount and Jorginho could be tougher to absorb.
Both players picked up yellows in the first leg, their third of the competition, and are thus ruled out for the second leg. Mount leads the team in minutes (all competitions) while one has played more minutes than Jorginho in the Champions League, starting all seven of our matches thus far.
The lead is precarious. Choose wisely.