The Blues saw off Legia Warsaw to seal their semi-final spot and will now face a side won six of their eight European home matches this season. Chelsea are competing in their first European semi-final since winning the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel in 2020-21 but will miss a number of key players as they prepare for the tie.
Robert Sanchez and forward Christopher Nkunku have not traveled for the game this week whilst Marc Guiu and Malo Gusto are also nursing injuries. Wesley Fofana and winger Omari Kellyma are both out for the season with hamstring injuries, and teammate Mykhailo Mudryk is still banned for alleged doping despite taking a lie detector test.
Goalkeeper Malkolm Nilsson Safqvist, winger Nino Zugelj, right-back Piotr Johansson and goalkeeper Jacob Rinne are all either sick or out injured whilst midfielders Patric Aslund Albin Ekdal, and Rasmus Schuller are expected to skip the class as they recover from their respective injuries behind the scenes.
Chelsea have avoided defeat in each of their previous four visits in European competition but with such a huge injury list and with the game being away from home an upset may be on the cards for the West London club as they chase down European glory once again. x