Liam Rosenior has revealed that ‘devastated’ Chelsea star Estevao was in tears after limping off injured during Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester United. Estevao, 18, made an encouraging start to the match but was forced off with just 16 minutes on the clock.
The Brazilian seemed to sustain a hamstring injury while pushing forward at the United defence. Rosenior was compelled to introduce Alejandro Garnacho, who endured a day to forget against his former club. After the match, the Chelsea boss provided an update on Estevao, who is eager to feature at the World Cup this summer. “He was devastated, he was crying at half-time,” Rosenior disclosed.
“(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.”
The winger is now a doubt for Tuesday’s trip to Brighton alongside Enzo Fernandez, who departed in the closing stages, but Rosenior was more optimistic about the midfielder’s condition. “I think it was his calf,” the Blues manager said. “I’m hoping it was cramp, we need him for Tuesday.”
Chelsea’s loss, their fourth consecutive in the Premier League without finding the net, means that they could be seven points behind the Champions League places by the end of the weekend.
United netted with their sole effort on target, as Matheus Cunha opened the scoring in the first half. “It is so difficult,” Rosenior bemoaned. “Today, they had one shot on target while we were down to 10 men.
“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.” Following their clash with Brighton, Chelsea will face Leeds in the FA Cup semi-finals next Sunday.