Missing out on Munich
John Terry and Branislav Ivanovic will miss the final against Bayern
And it seems the Blues will pay
the heaviest, having lost John Terry-Branislav Ivanovic at the heart of their
defence, as well as two important elements in their midfield, Portuguese Raul
Mereiles and Brazilian Ramires.
The three last-mentioned were
penalised for their succession of yellow cards, but the emblematic captain of
Chelsea saw red against Barça after kneeing Alexis Sanchez in the thigh.
Roberto Di Matteo will no doubt
be hoping that he will recuperate David Luiz and Gary Cahill from injury in
time, at the risk of having to put together a team with a completely decimated
defence.
Faced with this veritable deluge
of suspensions, Blues midfielder John Obi Mikel expressed his regret that the
counters had not been set back to zero before the final.
"Yes, the yellow cards
should be cancelled going into a final and UEFA should look into that. When you get to the final everyone wants to
see the best players and it's a shame that JT, Ivanovic, Meireles and Ramires
won't play,” said the disappointed Nigerian.
Although Bayern Munich will not
be as badly affected by sanctions, they will also have to cope without three of
their capped players at the Allianz Arena.
Under threat of suspension at the
outset of their semi-final on Wednesday evening against Real Madrid, Alaba,
Badstuber and Luiz Gustavo each received yellow cards and will also miss the
big European rendezvous.
It is unlikely that the two clubs
would appeal to the UEFA Commission of Discipline, who denied Franck Ribéry
this same gift two years ago and left the Frenchman to watch the final against Inter
Milan from the stands, following his suspension in the semi-final against Lyon.
In short, this was probably the
price Chelsea had to pay for eliminating the mighty Barcelona.
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