Benoit Badiashile will make his first start of the 2025/26 season when Chelsea and SL Benfica meet at Stamford Bridge for a UEFA Champions League tie on Tuesday.
Chelsea will be desperate to return to winning ways when they welcome SL Benfica to Stamford Bridge for a UEFA Champions League clash on Tuesday night. Enzo Maresca has new injury concerns to worry about ahead of his side’s latest fixture.
Maresca is sweating over the fitness of Moises Caicedo, Andrey Santos, and Joao Pedro, with the trio facing late fitness tests to determine their availability. Levi Colwill (knee), Tosin Adarabioyo (calf), Wesley Fofana (head), Dario Essugo (thigh), Cole Palmer (groin), and Liam Delap (thigh) remain on the sidelines, while Mykhailo Mudryk continues his suspension after failing a doping test several months ago.
However, while Trevoh Chalobah will serve a suspension in the Premier League after being sent off against Brighton & Hove Albion, he is available to take on SL Benfica in the UEFA Champions League. Meanwhile, during his pre-match press conference, Maresca provided fitness updates on Caicedo, Santos, and Pedro.
The Chelsea manager said, “Unfortunately we have many players out injured. This afternoon we are going to assess Caicedo, Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos. Unfortunately for us they all have small problems. We are going to see if they are available for tomorrow. For sure in this moment we have injuries, but we have a squad to try to replace the injuries we have.”
Maresca also discussed how his team will cope with the challenge of facing Benfica. He said, “For sure it will be a completely different game compared to the Club World Cup game. It’s a bit more difficult to prepare for this game because they have only played three or four games with Jose [Mourinho]. All the games I started watching were with the former manager [Bruno Lage], but I watched three or four games with Jose and some games when he was at Man United, Spurs or Roma.”
Robert Sanchez will retain his spot between the sticks, with Chelsea lining up in a 4-2-3-1 formation in front of him against SL Benfica on Tuesday. The backline will feature Malo Gusto, Trevoh Chalobah, Benoit Badiashile, and Marc Cucurella.
As for the midfield unit, Reece James will line up alongside Moises Caicedo in the double pivot, with Romeo Lavia ready to start if Caicedo is not fit enough. Enzo Fernandez will reprise the no. 10 role, with Estevao Willian and Pedro Neto being the two wide attackers. Finally, Joao Pedro will lead the line for Chelsea against Benfica.
Predicted Chelsea XI: Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella; James, Caicedo; Estevao, Enzo Fernandez, Neto; Joao Pedro
