Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel has provided a worrying injury update on Mateo Kovacic after the midfielder limped out of their FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Tuchel's side sealed their place in the final as they ran out eventual 2-0 winners in what was a hard-fought match at Wembley, courtesy of second-half strikes from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Mason Mount.
However, the Blues were dealt a blow midway through the first period when Kovacic - who has been a standout performer this season - was forced off with an ankle injury.
The Croatian slipped and appeared to turn his ankle when his boot got caught in the turf. His replacement, Loftus-Cheek, would go on to score the opener with 25 minutes remaining, with Mount adding the second shortly afterwards.
Of course, given we are in the later days of April, any injury layoff of more than four weeks could be season-ending. Speaking after the match, Tuchel revealed Kovacic's swollen ankle was "huge" and that the outlook wasn't good.
“When Kova comes off, you know that he is in pain," he said. "The ankle is swollen, it’s a huge ankle right now. So let’s hope.
"It doesn’t look so good but we will wait for the examination and we can tell you more.”
Tuchel was also asked why N'Golo Kante didn't start the match for Chelsea, with the Frenchman coming off the bench in the second period.
“N’Golo is ok but we decided for Jorgi [Jorginho] in the mix because he was out against Madrid and was hungry to play this match," the German coach said.
"The season is not finished and we wanted to reward Jorgi and Azpi to stay part in this. We also needed some fresh legs so NG [Kante] is not injured."
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Source : 90min