Chelsea News: Pulisic Out For Champions League, Pedro Bids Blues Goodbye

Chelsea F.C. coach Frank Lampard will need to dig deep if they are to catch up to Bayern Munich in their coming Champions League match. Already saddled by injuries to key players, the Blues suffered another big blow with Christian Pulisic missing at least four weeks due to a hamstring injury.

According to TalkSPORT, Pulisic will not be around when Chelsea faces Bayern in their Champions League decider this weekend. The 21-year-old winger can only return to training by next season. The 2020-21 Premier League season is set to begin on Sept. 12.

Pulisic was one of the top players the past weeks and even managed to score in the 1-2 FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal F.C. Before the latest update, Pulisic had vowed via his Instagram account that he would be back in no time. Unfortunately, the injury was more serious than initially thought.

Aside from the American football player, also out for Lampard are Pedro and Cesar Azpilicueta. Pedro underwent surgery for his shoulder, capping his five-year stint with the Blues. He is set to join Roma once his contract officially runs out.

“The surgery went well, I will be back soon,” Pedro wrote on his Instagram. “It was a pity not to win the FA Cup. Thank you for all your support.”

As far as Azpilicueta is concerned, the Spaniard also suffered a hamstring injury in their FA Cup match against Arsenal. He too needed to be helped out of the field at the time.

With a depleted lineup, Lampard needs to figure out who to play this weekend. He could turn to some academy players to suit up. Among the players that he could tap include Lewis Bate. The17-year-old has been training regularly with the first-team and Bate has been named to the squad several times. Other players who could be called up include Armando Broja, Henry Lawrence, Tino Anjorin, Lewis Bate, Tino Livramento, Dynel Simeu and Ian Maatsen.

Aside from the injuries to key players, some players are serving out suspensions. This includes Jorginho and Marcos Alonso. Both will be serving their suspensions after incurring a yellow and red card respectively in the first leg.