Andreas Christensen shocked his Chelsea teammates by pulling out of the squad to face Liverpool in the FA Cup final on the morning of the game, football.london understands. The Denmark international had been set to start at Wembley but Trevoh Chalobah was made to step in after Christensen left the team hotel on Saturday morning.
Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger completed Thomas Tuchel's back-three for the day and they performed admirably to keep Liverpool at bay for 120 minutes. Chelsea were eventually beaten on penalties at Wembley with Mason Mount and Cesar Azpilicueta missing spot-kicks for the Blues.
Christensen was fully fit and physically ready to play on all accounts having played the entire 90 minutes against Leeds United in the week, but informed Tuchel that he did not feel ready to play on Saturday morning, leaving his teammates shocked and confused. Earlier this season, the 26-year-old also pulled out of the clash with West Ham after the warm-up, complaining of stomach cramps.
READ MORE: Robert Lewandowksi makes huge transfer admission to hand Chelsea and Thomas Tuchel £26m boost
He is set to leave Stamford Bridge on a free transfer at the end of the season, with a five-year deal at Barcelona reportedly ready to be signed. After the game, Tuchel admitted for the first time that he was indeed losing the Dane as well as Rudiger, saying: "We are losing Toni [Rudiger], we're losing Andreas."
Despite falling to a second defeat to Liverpool of the season at Wembley, the Chelsea boss insisted that he remained proud of his side and the performance.
"Well, I think like in the last final, the Carabao Cup, no regrets," he said in his post-match press conference. "I told the team I am proud. I was super proud before and happy before the match to arrive with this group. We were sure we were competitive and we could make life very difficult for Liverpool. We did it again."
