Panic as Top Chelsea Star Suffers Injury Setback Ahead of Champions League Semifinal Game vs Real Madrid

- Mateo Kovacic has been ruled out of Chelsea's Champions League clash vs Real Madrid

- The midfielder last featured for the Blues in their Premier League win over Crystal Palace earlier this month

- Thomas Tuchel has now revealed that his key player will not be available to face his former club having failed to fully recover

- This will be the fourth European meeting between the west Londoners and Madrid, with the EPL side unbeaten in all

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Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has revealed that Mateo Kovacic will not be available in his side's Champions League semi-final meeting with Real Madrid.

The Blues are scheduled to take on the La Liga giants in the first leg of the last four on Tuesday, April 27, at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano.

However, it has now emerged Kovacic will be unavailable for the meeting against his former side, with Tuchel told Mirror UK that the midfielder is still yet to train with the team.

“Me personally, I hope (he will be ready) for Fulham. Don’t take it for granted or that it is medical advice, this is just my personal opinion.

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" I think it’s maybe possible to be back against Fulham, in-between the Madrid games. I think Madrid could be close as he’s not trained with the team."

Kovacic, who penned a new deal with Chelsea in the summer of 2019 has been an integral squad member for the team under both Frank Lampard and Tuchel.

This season, he has made 27 starts for the west Londoners and was almost certain to make the trip to Madrid. This will be the fourth European meeting between the two sides, with the first happening in 1971.

Chelsea have always got the better of the Spanish giants in their previous three face-offs, with the Premier League side winning two and drawing once.

A win over Real in both legs will guarantee Chelsea a place in the finals where they will play the winner between Paris Saint-Germain and Man City who will square off in the other semi-final fixture.

Legit.ng earlier reported that Timo Werner’s lone goal was enough to see Chelsea take a massive step towards securing Champions League football at the expense of West Ham United.

The German, who has struggled to settle in England since his £47m move from RB Leipzig last summer, started and finished a crisp move from the Blues in the first half.

He fired home from a Ben Chilwell cross after some nice interplay between himself and Christian Pulisic for his sixth league goal of the campaign.