JAKARTA - Chelsea midfielder Mateo Kovacic will miss the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday because of a hamstring injury, manager Thomas Tuchel said.

Kovacic did not play in Tuesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg, which ended in a 0–1 defeat by Porto, although Chelsea still reached the last four with a 2–1 aggregate win and will face Either Real Madrid or Liverpool.

" (On Monday) in training he suffered a muscle injury to his hamstring after 20 minutes...," Tuchel said after Tuesday's game as quoted by Antara from Reuters.

'He's definitely missed the game against City as well, which is a big loss.'

Tuchel dropped N'Golo Kante as a starter in Kovacic's absence, and the French national player played full time after returning from a hamstring problem.

"N'Golo was outstanding," Tuchel said. 'We took a bit of a risk with N'Golo but this was the moment to put him on the pitch and hope he's got the energy for 90 minutes.

'He won so many balls and gave everyone confidence. He did it perfectly and now it's time to recover well."


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