Tuchel Refuses To Risk Kante's Condition

N'Golo Kante (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - Thomas Tuchel admits he does not want to risk midfielder N'Golo Kante's condition and will make a decision in the final moments before Chelsea play the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final against Porto in Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan on Wednesday morning.

Kante suffered a hamstring problem while playing for the French national team last March, which saw him miss Chelsea's game against West Bromwich Albion.

However, Kante's condition improved faster than expected as the 30-year-old midfielder twice came off the bench during the first leg against Porto and the Premier League tie against Crystal Palace last week.

Training session done, let's go @ChelseaFC 🔵🔵 🙏🏽#ThiagoSilva #ChelseaFC #ChampionsLeague #2021 #CHEPOR #UCL #CFC pic.twitter.com/kbZHdPlzoW

— Thiago Silva (@tsilva3) 12 April 2021

On paper, Kante's fitness situation may not be too much of a problem for Chelsea who face a second leg with a 2-0 aggregate win over Porto.

"Normally, it is difficult to imagine a match like this without NG, but at the same time we have to be very careful with the conditions," Tuchel was quoted as saying by Antara from Chelsea's official website on Tuesday, April 13.

"And we also don't want to take risks with his health or injury situation," he added.

Moreover, Tuchel did not rule out the possibility that Porto would force tomorrow's game to go to extra time if the Portuguese club were able to equalise.

Tuchel confirmed Kante would take part in the second leg, but it has not been definitive whether he will start or return from the bench as before.

"The question is whether we want to play from the start or go in to close out the game, because there is still the possibility of the match continuing for up to 120 minutes," he said.

"It's a question that honestly hasn't been answered, I'll decide later," Tuchel said.