Denis Zakaria, Wesley Fofana and Jorginho have all dropped team news hints ahead of Chelsea's Champions League group stage opener versus Dinamo Zagreb this evening. The trio have posted pre-match graphic previews of the clash to their respective Instagram stories.
Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly have followed suit, suggesting that they too could feature against the Croatian top-flight champions. Thomas Tuchel's side flew out to Zagreb yesterday morning where the the Blues will look to reclaim the European crown they won in May 2021.
A vast majority of the west Londoners' squad made the trip but there is no N'Golo Kante or Thiago Silva; the former picked up a hamstring injury against Tottenham last month and the latter is being rested. Nonetheless, Chelsea will be looking to build upon their controversial 2-1 win over West Ham at the weekend.
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And, ahead of what is poised to be blockbuster bout, Tuchel previewed the tie. Speaking to football.london, the Blues boss said: "They are used to winning, it’s a winning team. They are used to be on the top. That shapes a certain mentality. They made it through the qualification, which is never easy.
"They deserve to be here and I’m pretty sure they will plan to play a very technical, emotional game against us. They have individual quality like always, like every team of Dinamo Zagreb and any Croatian team.
"A lot of individual quality. Upfront they have speed and dribbling, on the wings. They will use the role as an underdog to over-perform and make us underperform. This will be their plan. We are aware of that.
"We are ourselves in a moment where we need to improve, we are not fully happy with the results, with our performances. We need to take the next step. It’s Champions League, very exciting. We are very aware what the challenge is to play in a first match away in a group stage. It’s difficult.
"It can end up in complicated situations but I think it’s very important that we accept it and play a humble match, don’t get stuck in our own expectations. We will accept the fight and the challenge and then we can also have the belief and trust we are able to win. We need to perform, for sure."
While Zakaria, Fofana and Jorginho posting graphic previews of the Champions League group stage opener on their social media profiles does not necessarily mean they will start, it usually means they will be involved in some capacity. So, follow football.london's live coverage of the game in our blog here.
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