English premier league club Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has confirmed neither N’Golo Kante nor Callum Hudson-Odoi are “match- fit,” meaning they will miss Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League clash with Valencia.
According to the manager, Kante and Hudson-Odoi are “fit, but not match-fit,” per BBC Sport. The Chelsea boss provided more details regarding the recovery of the latter, who has been absent since April due to an Achilles issue, as well as defender Reece James:
The Blues are poised to make their return to European football’s elite club competition, having won the UEFA Europa League last term. They will face a difficult task getting out of their group, though, with the La Liga outfit, Lyon and Zenit Saint Petersburg likely to offer significant resistance.
Lampard also said Antonio Rudiger and Emerson will not be involved in the Champions League opener. Rudiger picked up a groin problem in Saturday’s 5-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, while Brazil native Emerson injured his thigh during the international break with Italy.
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Valencia sacked their manager last week, and the Blues will be confident of starting their European campaign with a win. While Chelsea come into the game on the right side of a 5-2 scoreline, Los Che were on the wrong side of the same result on Saturday, as they were well beaten by Barcelona at the Camp Nou.