• Chelsea manager hopes defender will be fit for Bayern Munich
• Champions League finalists short in defensive position
Roberto Di Matteo is considering handing David Luiz a cameo appearance in Chelsea's final Premier League game of the season, against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday, as the Brazil international seeks to prove his fitness ahead of the Champions League final with Bayern Munich later this month.
David Luiz damaged a hamstring chasing down Emmanuel Adebayor during Chelsea's FA Cup semi-final victory over Tottenham Hotspur in mid-April and has been in rehabilitation ever since. While the 25-year-old has been able to jog in training sessions, he had not been deemed fit enough to return to the first-team, with Di Matteo now balancing a desire to grant the centre-half some competitive game-time to test his recovery while also keen not to risk aggravating the injury ahead of the final at the Allianz Arena. Any set-back on Sunday would effectively end the defender's season, with early indications suggesting the Brazilian may start on the bench.
The desire to include David Luiz in Germany is driven by the reality that John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic – Chelsea's centre-half pairing in Saturday's FA Cup final – will both be absent through suspension, and Gary Cahill is rated extremely doubtful for the match having suffered his own hamstring injury during the semi-final second leg draw in Barcelona. While Di Matteo has refused to discount the England centre-back recovering in time for the game in Munich, his involvement seems increasingly unlikely meaning the interim first-team coach will have to consider fielding José Bosingwa or Paulo Ferreira in an unfamiliar central role, hopefully alongside David Luiz.
Asked about David Luiz and Cahill after Tuesday's 4-1 defeat at Liverpool, a result which ensured Chelsea will finish sixth, their lowest league placing in a decade, Di Matteo said: "We are working towards their fitness and trying to get them back as soon as we can. They were not available for Liverpool so we will have to see [when they could return]. We have injuries – we had five players unavailable and we need to see how the players are after the game as well. We will check on their progress and how they will develop."
Of the other absentees at Anfield, Mikel John Obi and Petr Cech were nursing knocks picked up in the FA Cup final while Didier Drogba has been suffering with a swollen ankle. The trio were rested as precautions and should be available for Munich – when Ramires and Raul Meireles will join the list of absentees through suspension – though it remains to be seen whether the three would be included for Sunday's visit of relegated Blackburn, a game which has been rendered meaningless and is likely to see the hosts field an unfamiliar lineup of reserves and youngsters. Read More
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