Chelsea: Enzo Maresca issues Romeo Lavia update as midfielder suffers new injury against Qarabag

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·5 November 2025

Chelsea: Enzo Maresca issues Romeo Lavia update as midfielder suffers new injury against Qarabag

The Belgian completed just five minutes as the Blues drew with Qarabag

Enzo Maresca has provided an update on the injury suffered by Chelsea’s Romeo Lavia against Qarabag.

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The midfielder has been plagued by injuries in recent seasons and suffered his latest injury setback in Wednesday evening’s 2-2 draw at the Tofiq Bahramov Stadium in Baku.

The Belgian midfielder was selected to start in midfield alongside Andrey Santos in the Azerbaijani capital.

But inside the first five minutes, the 21-year-old went down after pulling up from a defensive duel with eventual goalscorer Leandro Andrade near the edge of his own box.

Lavia was able to clear the ball away but limped away before falling to the ground to receive treatment. When he left the pitch, he could be seen throwing a bottle in frustration.

Maresca took no chances and replaced him with Moises Caicedo, who he had initially intended to hand a rest to in the Qarabag game.

The Chelsea head coach said of Lavia’s injury: “We feel a shame for him, especially for him.

“He's not able to be fit for a long, long period. We will see now. It's too early to understand what kind of injury. I think it's his quad.”

Chelsea will conduct scans at their Cobham training ground once the squad has returned home from their flight to London, to determine the extent of Lavia’s injury, but face a nervous wait until then.

Maresca was also asked whether he felt his side had been wasteful in possession against Qarabag, who have seven points from four Champions League group games — the same number as Chelsea.

“I don't see Chelsea [have] a problem on the ball,” Maresca replied. “Qarabag press well but we also had plenty of chances. We can improve, but we did some good things.”