Interim Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo has confirmed that centre half David Luiz will miss the Barcelona match with a hamstring problem sustained during the FA Cup semifinal win against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, and he’s not expecting the Brazilian back for another two weeks. That’s obviously bad news for the Blues – the partnership between David Luiz and John Terry has been by far the strongest we’ve fielded in this calendar year, and although Gary Cahill is good enough to be a rotational defender at Chelsea he doesn’t provide the sort of raw ability that David Luiz does.
On top of that, both John Terry and Gary Cahill are carrying knocks, with Terry’s broken ribs particularly worrisome and fourth-choice centre back Branislav Ivanovic is in the middle of a three-match suspension. We should be very, very worried about a selection crisis at this point, because we’re one minor injury away from fielding the likes of Oriol Romeu at centre back. Get well soon, David!
