Chelsea winger Raheem Sterling was absent in Tuesday’s training session ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.
The Blues confirmed, via their official website, that Sterling took no part in their final training session at Cobham before the team traveled to Germany this afternoon.
Graham Potter previously revealed that the England international took a knock to his knee in training prior to Saturday’s match against West Ham, so he is unlikely to return against Dortmund.
This means there will be at least nine Chelsea absentees in the first leg, including Sterling and unregistered players.
These nine are:
- Sterling (knee)
- Christian Pulisic (knee)
- N’Golo Kante (hamstring)
- Armando Broja (ruptured ACL)
- Edouard Mendy (fractured finger)
- Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (unregistered)
- Benoit Badiashile (unregistered)
- Noni Madueke (unregistered)
- David Datro Fofana (unregistered).
Badiashile and Madueke, in particular, were in the starting line-up when Chelsea faced West Ham last weekend.
On a more positive note, Chelsea also confirmed that Kalidou Koulibaly was involved in Tuesday’s training after missing the last game due to an illness.
The Senegal international are among the four Chelsea players who could make their return at Signal Iduna Park, alongside Mateo Kovacic, Denis Zakaria, and Wesley Fofana.
Koulibaly and Fofana’s returns could particularly prove important since Potter will have to pick another defender to replace Badiashile.
That said, Trevoh Chalobah arguably remains a safer choice than these two.
Meanwhile, Borussia Dortmund will be without three players, including their joint-top scorer Youssoufa Moukoko, who is expected to be out for weeks due to a ruptured syndesmosis.
Update: Chelsea have confirmed the 23-man travelling squad to face Dortmund.
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