‘Seems like quite an injury’: Concern over Mateo Kovačić ankle injury

Just eleven minutes into Sunday’s FA Cup semifinal, Mateo Kovačić appeared to twist his left ankle as he was trying to make a cut with the ball. He tried to soldier on for another ten or so minutes, well below his usual level, but was unable to run it off and had to call it a day early.

His replacement, Ruben Loftus-Cheek would go on to score the winning goal, so while that worked out well in the end for us, things are looking a bit worse for Kovačić unfortunately. As Thomas Tuchel revealed after the match, Kova’s ankle is not looking very good at the moment, though obviously we have to wait for scans for a proper diagnosis.

“Not so good. He has a big, big swollen ankle. It does not look good, and he is in pain. So let’s wait for the examination but it seems like quite an injury.”

-Thomas Tuchel; source: Chelsea TV via Metro

It would be an unfortunate blow for the 27-year-old, who’s having arguably his best season for Chelsea yet, despite also missing a month and a half earlier with an adductor problem as well as a bout with the coronavirus.

Hopefully the scans come back negative and we can have Kova back in a couple weeks (rather than just, you know, next season)...