Chelsea were beaten by Manchester United on Saturday in a major blow to their Champions League prospects, and the defeat was made worse by an early injury to Estevao
Liam Rosenior provided an update after the loss(Image: Chelsea FC)
Liam Rosenior has revealed that ‘devastated’ Chelsea star Estevao was in tears after coming off injured during Saturday’s 1-0 loss at home to Manchester United. Estevao, 18, enjoyed a bright start to the game but had to be substituted with just 16 minutes on the clock.
The Brazilian appeared to pick up a hamstring injury while probing at the United defence. Rosenior was forced to bring on Alejandro Garnacho, who had a day to forget against his former club.
Post-match, the Chelsea manager offered an update on Estevao, who is desperate to go to the World Cup this summer. “He was devastated, he was crying at half-time,” Rosenior revealed.
“(We are) really devastated for him, it looks like it’s his hamstring. And that’s a moment actually when he’s running through on goal he pulls his hamstring in that moment.”
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The winger is now a doubt for Tuesday’s trip to Brighton alongside Enzo Fernandez, who came off in the dying embers, but Rosenior was more positive about the midfielder’s fitness. “I think it was his calf,” the Blues boss said. “I’m hoping it was cramp, we need him for Tuesday.”
Chelsea’s defeat, their fourth in a row in the Premier League without scoring, means that they could be seven points adrift of the Champions League spots by the close of the weekend. United scored with their only shot on target, as Matheus Cunha broke the deadlock in the first half.
“It is so difficult,” Rosenior bemoaned. “Today, they had one shot on target while we were down to 10 men.
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Estevao came off injured in the first half(Image: Izzy Poles – AMA/Getty Images)
“We had wave after wave of attack and hit the woodwork, I think, four times. I don’t want my team to feel things are against us. We have to keep fighting.”
He added: “We have to defend that moment better. We don’t and we get punished. At the moment, any small mistake we are making, and the ball ends up in the back of our net and that has to change.
“It is about results, and we haven’t got a result today we should have. The small things add up, but we have to keep working hard.”
After they play Brighton, Chelsea face Leeds in the FA Cup semi-finals next Sunday.
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