“Tired” – Key player may not be ready for Saturday – Chelsea need him | OneFootball

Chelsea really needed 3 points last night to get their Champions League campaign underway last night, but it wasn’t set up well for them.

The Blues are missing some important players and were facing a tricky opponent in Benfica. Benoit Badiashile was called up to start in defence and did so having played just a handful of minutes since his last injury, picked up against the same opponent back at the Club World Cup.

Badiashile “tired” after impressive return

Benoit Badiashile with a Chelsea news logo. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“It was a tough game against a good opponent,” the defender said.

“We are happy with the win because it was, like I said, a tough game. We suffered, but we win the game, so it’s the most important thing tonight,” the defender said to Chelsea TV at full time.

“Of course. We played against them at the Club World Cup. We knew that they were a good team, especially now with Jose Mourinho. It was a tough game, but we are happy with the win.”

In terms of his personal state after his first start since June, Badiashile admitted that he had been struggling:

“I am a bit tired now, but I’m really happy to get back with the team and, yeah, I’m really happy.”

You can see Badiashile speaking in the clip embedded here:

Defender has to prepare for new test in just a couple of days

Poor Badiashile has gone from ten minutes on the pitch to 90. Now he may have to go again on Saturday. Trevoh Chalobah is banned and both Tosin Adarabioyo and Wesley Fofana are set to miss the game.

That makes Badiashile, Josh Acheampong and Jorrel Hato the only options at centre back to face Liverpool – who have injury problems of their own. If BB has enough in his legs by then, we think Maresca will start him.