Chelsea supervisor Graham Potter mentioned it was a “tough decision” to go away Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of their Champions League squad for the knockout phases however mentioned the Gabon striker nonetheless has a task to play on the London membership.
Aubameyang was absent from the 25-player listing named on Friday and there was no place for 35-million-pound ($42-million) January signing Benoit Badiashile, however British file switch Enzo Fernandez was included.
Mykhailo Mudryk, who joined for an preliminary price of 70 million euros ($76 million) from Shakhtar Donetsk, and mortgage signing Joao Felix have been additionally included within the listing.
“Pierre’s a professional and I understand he will be disappointed. It was a tough decision,” mentioned Potter.
“We had three coming in and two had to go out. He was the one that has missed out. It’s absolutely nothing bad against him. He has done nothing wrong at all.”
Aubameyang has did not impress since becoming a member of the membership from Barcelona in September, scoring just one Premier League objective in 11 appearances.
His final Premier League begin was in November and he was substituted in a 1-0 defeat by Manchester City in early January after having come off the bench.
“Pierre’s just unfortunate and he will be fighting for his place for the rest of the season. He has handled it very well,” Potter mentioned. “He’s been a top, top guy for us.”
Chelsea, who go to Borussia Dortmund of their last-16 first leg tie on Feb. 15, have been solely allowed to register a most of three new gamers for the knockout stage.
Badiashile joined in a big-money deal from Monaco in early January however was neglected with Chelsea seemingly well-stocked at centre again with Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly all included.
All golf equipment are restricted to a 25-man squad and Chelsea used 24 gamers within the group stage, with solely certainly one of them – Jorginho – leaving the membership within the January switch window.
Chelsea are ninth within the Premier League on 30 factors after Friday’s 0-0 draw with Fulham at dwelling.
Chelsea’s Champions League squad:
Goalkeepers: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Marcus Bettinelli and Edouard Mendy
Defenders: Thiago Silva, Trevoh Chalobah, Ben Chilwell, Reece James, Kalidou Koulibaly, Cesar Azpilicueta, Marc Cucurella and Wesley Fofana
Midfielders: Enzo Fernandez, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount, Denis Zakaria, Hakim Ziyech, Conor Gallagher and Carney Chukwuemeka
Forwards: Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Kai Havertz
Charlie Webster, Lewis Hall and Armando Broja have been included within the squad as B List gamers.
