Chelsea revert to European business on Saturday, trying to put FA Cup disappointment behind them.
The Blues have the seemingly hopeless task of reversing a three-goal deficit against Bayern Munich to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in Saturday’s return leg, delayed by five months.
Truth be told, half the players would rather be on their pool loungers after everything went wrong at Wembley last weekend.
Chelsea ended up with nine men, and bodies strewn around the pitch like the aftermath of a medieval battle.
Had Christian Pulisic and Cesar Azpilicueta not both pulled hamstrings, had ref Anthony Taylor not made a couple of rickets (sending off Mateo Kovacic with a second yellow was absurd, looking at replays), had there not been a drinks break to interrupt Chelsea’s first-half dominance... ah, but it was not to be, and Frank Lampard took defeat to Arsenal as gracefully as we've come to expect from this mature young manager.
He knows he’s had a better-than-expected first season in charge, and while the Gunners now scrape into the Europa League, he has the lure of next season’s Champions League to waggle in front of potential recruits this summer.
Many familiar faces will have gone, including Pedro, whose stoppage-time shoulder dislocation required yet more stretcher bearers.
But it’s the injuries to goal-scorer Pulisic and left-sided cross-provider Azpilicueta that will vex Lampard most as he casts around to assemble a squad fit to face Bayern.
He’ll be trawling nurseries and old folks’ homes. Callum Hudson-Odoi, at 19, is now the youngest Chelsea player to have featured in an FA Cup final, and keeper Willy Caballero, 38, the most ancient.
The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
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