Chelsea will likely be without Mateo Kovacic for their next fixture in the Emirates FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.
It’s set to be a vital week for Manchester City’s quadruple hopes as they first face German Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in the return leg of their UEFA Champions League last eight matches on Wednesday night before then meeting Champions League semi-finalists Chelsea at Wembley stadium on Saturday, with odds being covered by Canadian online casino at the time.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will be hoping his team follows Chelsea to the last four of Europe’s elite club competition, with the West London club advancing past Portuguese side FC Porto with a 2-1 aggregate victory on Tuesday night.
The West London side survived a stunning late overhead kick from Porto star Mehdi Taremi to triumph over the Portuguese side and confirm a spot in the UEFA Champions League last four for the first time in as many years.
Thomas Tuchel’s men may have suffered defeat on Tuesday night’s second leg 1-0 but that result barely tells the entire story of a dull match in which the visitors had been unable to create a clear-cut chance until Mehdi Taremi’s incredible goal late in the match.
Mehdi Taremi’s spectacular goal was out of character with the remainder of FC Porto’s display on the night, and the goal came too little, too late to alter the inevitable course of this last eight.
It was only Porto’s second attempt on target as the Blues controlled proceedings, having won the first leg through goals from the England duo of Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell.
Chelsea midfielder Kovacic missed out on the 1-0 loss in the Spanish City of Seville due to an injury he sustained in training on Monday and German boss Thomas Tuchel has confirmed the former Real Madrid man is unlikely to be fit to face the boys from Etihad on Saturday.
France international midfielder N’Golo Kante stepped in to replace the Croatian after recovering only recently from his own fitness problem and the former PSG boss hopes Kante can recover in time for Saturday’s FA Cup Semi-final tie with inform Manchester City, with www.leroijohnny.com/fr will be looking forward to the games.
“It was very sad to see Kova yesterday after 20 minutes in training, to have this little muscle injury from more or less out of nothing,” said Tuchel.
“He felt his hamstring, I was very sad for him, and also we don’t have so many experienced players when it comes to the Champions League. I think he is for sure out for the game against City as well, so it’s a big loss. So we did it also for him today.
“And it was clear we had to use N’Golo, we took the situation and put him on the field and hope he can have the energy for 90 minutes.
“N’Golo is incredible, he’s like two players. Everybody who sees him for the first time loves him. All my family loves him when they watch our games now.”
City are going into Wednesday night’s tie from the back of a disappointing loss to Leeds United in the Premier League last weekend – only their fourth loss of a campaign in which they are still competing on all fronts.
