Paris Saint-Germain are willing to wait until the last
minute to make a decision on the fitness of key midfield duo Blaise Matuidi and
Marco Verratti before their Champions League match against Chelsea, but fear
the latter is losing his race to start the game.
Matuidi has been out with a thigh injury and is hoping to
prove his fitness for Wednesday night’s last-16 second leg at Stamford Bridge,
but PSG are less optimistic over Verratti’s chances.
Verratti has been sidelined by a groin injury that was
deemed serious enough for the Italy side's chief medic Enrico Castellacci to
check the 23-year-old over in Paris.
Despite his injury problems, Verratti is desperate to play
some part against Chelsea and is hoping to travel to England with the squad to
undergo a fitness test on the day of the game.
Even if he comes through a last-minute test, Verratti may
not be risked from the start against Chelsea with PSG holding a 2-1 lead
from the first leg.
Losing either Matuidi or Verratti for the second leg would
be a huge blow for PSG, as both men were excellent in the Parc des Princes
against Chelsea.
PSG are likely to start with 20-year-old Adrien Rabiot in
midfield in place of Verratti with Lucas Moura still preferred in the front
three to Edinson Cavani, despite the fact the Uruguayan scored the winning goal
in the first leg and has an impressive record against Chelsea.
Having all but ruled captain John Terry out of the second
leg, Chelsea interim is still sweating on the fitness of Pedro RodrÃguez
for the game.
Pedro suffered a hamstring injury against Southampton and
will need to complete a full training session on Tuesday to be deemed fit
enough to start against PSG.
He had finally found his form before his injury and Hiddink
will be keen to have Pedro’s speed and creativity at his disposal with Chelsea
having to score at least once to stand a chance of reaching the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Antonio Conte, who is expected to be appointed as
Chelsea’s next manager in the summer, has asked for his trial in a case over
match-fixing to be expedited.
Conte has been accused of failing to report a fix against
Albinoleffe when he was manager of Siena, a charge he has always strongly
denied.
A new round of trials has called on Conte to give evidence,
but the Italian is requesting a fast-track trial to leave himself clear of any
accusations before he potentially takes over at Chelsea.
Conte will also want the matter to be dealt with in plenty
of time before he leads Italy at this summer’s European Championship.
The appointment of Conte as Chelsea’s manager for next
season could be sealed this week at a meeting between the 46-year-old and
Blues owner Roman Abramovich in Monte Carlo.
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