Chelsea have used UEFA\u2019s recent amendment on long-term injuries to include Facundo Buonanotte in their Champions League squad for the league phase. The summer recruit from Sporting CP had already been named in the group list, but when a thigh injury sidelined him for at least three months the club had an alternative available under the new rule.<\/p>\n
UEFA approved a change ahead of the expanded Champions League league phase allowing the temporary replacement of one outfield player “with long-term injury or illness” during the competition\u2019s league phase. “The reasoning for the adaptation is to ensure that squad lists are not unfairly reduced and players are safeguarded from additional workload pressure,” UEFA reasoned .<\/p>\n
The decision reflects Chelsea\u2019s midfield balance. Buonanotte offers a more attacking profile than D\u00e1rio Essugo, “whose absence could be keenly felt should other players pull up with a knock.” Mois\u00e9s Caicedo is described as an ever-present at the base of midfield, while Andrey Santos remains the only other defensively-minded central option for Maresca.<\/p>\n
Reece James continues to be used in a hybrid role. Natural right back Reece James has also been tasked with wandering into midfield by his Italian manager. Rom\u00e9o Lavia is eligible via the club\u2019s List B and therefore available for selection, but injuries have repeatedly dogged the Belgium international.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s Champions League squad as presented includes:<\/p>\n
Goalkeepers: Robert S\u00e1nchez, Filip J\u00f8rgensen<\/p>\n
Defenders: Marc Cucurella, Tosin Adarabioyo, Beno\u00eet Badiashile, Levi Colwill, Jorell Hato, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James, Malo Gusto, Wesley Fofana<\/p>\n
Midfielders: Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, Cole Palmer, Jamie Gittens, Andrey Santos, Mois\u00e9s Caicedo, Facundo Buonanotte<\/p>\n
With the temporary replacement option now confirmed, Chelsea have adjusted their list to reflect available personnel while seeking to protect player workloads during the league phase of the competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UEFA rule change lets Chelsea add injured signing Facundo Buonanotte to their Champions League list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2852,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[944,945,934],"class_list":["post-2853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","tag-andrey-santos","tag-dario-essugo","tag-enzo-maresca"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}