Romelu Lukaku was surprised to be left on the bench for Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Lille in the Champions League, and considered himself fit and ready to play despite Thomas Tuchel saying otherwise.
The London side started with a front three of Kai Havertz, Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech, with the German and American scoring the goals in the victory over the French champions at Stamford Bridge.
Even though Pulisic and the Morocco international were taken off in the second half, but Lukaku remained on the bench, watching on.
Chelsea head coach Tuchel had claimed Lukaku was ‘a bit tired and exhausted’ after his poor performance against Crystal Palace at the weekend which saw him touch the ball just seven times.
The Telegraph claim that the Belgium international did not see it this way, though and felt ready to play against Lille, disappointed to miss out.
Chelsea play Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday at Wembley and the Belgian is very keen to be involved in the game, although now his place is in huge doubt.
Havertz and Pulisic will hope to retain their places after netting on Tuesday, while Mason Mount returned to the bench against Lille after his injury and is pushing for the starting lineup this weekend.
However, there may be spaces in the team opening up, though, with Ziyech and Kovacic both going off injured in the second half.
Lukaku has had a disappointing season since his return to Chelsea from Inter Milan in the summer, scoring five Premier League goals in 17 games as he struggles to fit into Tuchel’s style of play.
