Soccer:Defenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill were today set to train ahead of Chelsea's Champions League final against Bayern Munich on Saturday. But Florent Malouda was described as by caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo as "touch and go" for the Allianz Arena showdown.
Di Matteo said on Sunday that Luiz and Cahill’s fight to be fit would “probably” go right up to the day of the game, so their attempt to train today was a huge boost for the Blues. “Gary and David are going to try to train with us today,” Di Matteo said of the centre-back pairing, who have both been out for around a month with hamstring injuries.
Malouda failed to complete the first half of Chelsea’s final Barclays Premier League game of the season against Blackburn on Sunday having strained a hamstring. Di Matteo said: “Flo, we’ll still assess and it’s going to be touch and go for him to be available for Saturday.”
With John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Ramires and Raul Meireles suspended, if Luiz, Cahill and Malouda were not fit for Saturday’s game, Di Matteo admitted he would be forced to complete his bench with youngsters. “That’s the worse-case scenario,” he said.
“We will take some reserve-team players onto the bench, into the squad, and just figure out what to do. I’ve been trying different options in training and different solutions just in case.”
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