Chelsea central
defenders David Luiz and Gary Cahill are hopeful they will be
fit for Saturday's Champions League final against Bayern Munich
after completing their first training session following
hamstring injuries.
"I'm so happy that I come back to training today," Luiz told
reporters after playing a full part on Tuesday. "I did 100
percent at the session and I'm so happy for this."
Cahill added: "There's some work to be done in two or three
days now leading up to the game for me to get back into it.
"If I need to do a little bit of other training, I'll do
that. But, touch wood, there's no reaction from today. I felt
fine out there," he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Luiz has not played for a month while England international
Cahill has missed the last five games with a similar injury.
Chelsea's caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo is hoping to
avoid what he described on Tuesday as the "worst-case scenario"
with reserves and youngsters on the bench for the Champions
League final against Bayern Munich on Saturday.
Di Matteo, whose future at Chelsea is far from certain, said
he faced one of the biggest challenges of his career especially
as his team travel to Bayern's Allianz Arena have four players
suspended and three senior men battling through injuries.
Captain John Terry, defender Branislav Ivanovic and
midfielders Raul Meireles and Ramires are all banned from the
final while Di Matteo said Florent Malouda was "touch and go".
Like Luiz and Cahill, the french international is struggling
after pulling a hamstring during the first half of Sunday's
final Premier League home win over Blackburn Rovers.
Di Matteo told a packed marquee at Chelsea's training ground
in Cobham, south of London: "Flo [Malouda], we'll still assess
and it's going to be touch and go for him to be available for
Saturday."
WORST-CASE SCENARIO
Di Matteo would be forced to complete his bench with
reserves and youngsters if Luiz and Cahill were also out.
"That's the worse-case scenario," he said.
"We will take some reserve-team players onto the bench, into
the squad, and just figure out what to do. I've been trying
different options in training and different solutions just in
case."
While Saturday's game could be Di Matteo's last in charge of
Chelsea, he said all he was thinking about after the final was
having a holiday.
He refused to be drawn on a possible move back to one of his
former clubs, West Bromwich Albion, after being sacked from
there as manager last year.
"In my life, I've gone back to an ex-girlfriend and it
didn't work out. I'm not sure whether it's the right move," he
said.
Di Matteo did not think Chelsea had gained any advantage
after Bayern lost the German Cup final 5-2 to Borussia Dortmund
in Berlin on Saturday.
"I don't think that will have any effect on the Bayern
team," he told reporters. "They are extremely professional and
they will move on from it very quickly as they know they have a
big game on Saturday. I don't think it gives us any advantage."
He also played down the idea that Bayern would benefit from
playing the game in their own stadium.
"It might give them a bit of an advantage because they know
the environment and the pitch, but because they are playing at
home there might be more pressure on them so I am not sure it
gives them a real advantage at all."
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