Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Romelu Lukaku remains an injury doubt for Chelsea FC’s Champions League showdown against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
The Belgian striker was absent from the Blues squad on Saturday as Tuchel’s side secured a thumping 6-0 victory at Southampton to bounce back from defeats by Brentford and Real Madrid.
Lukaku has been suffering with Achilles pain and it remains unclear whether the forward will be available for selection when Chelsea FC head to Madrid for the return leg of their Champions League quarter-final clash.
Speaking after Chelsea FC’s 6-0 Premier League win at St Mary’s, Tuchel appeared to cast doubt on the prospect of Lukaku being ready for the trip to Spain.
Asked about Lukaku after the victory, Tuchel said: “He [Lukaku] wasn’t in training yesterday [Friday], he was in too much pain.
“There is not a lot of time, we have only two training sessions, and we leave the country on Monday. We need to wait, I have no answer right now.”
Lukaku is yet to find his top form for Chelsea FC since his return to the club from Inter Milan in the summer transfer window.
The 28-year-old has scored 10 goals in 33 appearances in all competitions for the south west London side so far this term and will be hoping to improve that return in the final few weeks of the season.
Speaking before the trip to St Mary’s, Tuchel admitted that Lukaku still has plenty of room for improvement.
“We wanted Romelu and we bought him because we believed in him, and still do,” Tuchel said last week.
“Has it worked out in a way everybody wanted so far? No, of course not. It is not on Romelu after two defeats, he didn’t even start these two last matches.
“We play the cup competitions until the end, we play [FA Cup] semi-final, we play the Carabao Cup final, and the Club World Cup final and we are in the race for top three in the hardest league. We have had one tough result against Real Madrid but we cannot put this on one player.
“We are still working to make it better. We had a reason to spend this amount of money and he had reasons to come here and complete his Chelsea chapter. This is ongoing.”
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