Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confirmed that goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and midfielder N’Golo Kante are both in contention to start Saturday’s Champions League final against Manchester City after recovering from injuries.

Kante picked up a hamstring injury in the 2-1 win over Leicester and missed the final day defeat to Aston Villa, in which Mendy was forced off at half-time following a collision with the post which left him with a rib injury.

It left Chelsea fans sweating over whether they would be ready in time for Saturday’s enormous game, but Tuchel confirmed in his pre-match press conference that he’s heading into the final with no injury concerns.

„Best news ever, there are no injuries,“ Tuchel said. „Let’s hope it stays like this until after training today.“

The boss also confessed that he has loved what he has seen from his squad in the build-up to the final, insisting he feels as though his squad are ready to give their all.

„I have full trust that everybody wants it,“ he continued. „It’s about hunger, and always at the highest level in sport, in comes down to the question of how badly you want it. I felt we were very concentrated, very focused and very disciplined in the build-up this week.

„I feel we have a genuine confidence, which is very nice to have and which is a very nice feeling to bring to a final.“

Tuchel was under no illusion that it will not be easy against City, despite the fact he has beaten the Premier League champions twice already since he arrived in England.

When asked if he felt this was a case of Thomas Tuchel vs Pep Guardiola, the Blues boss responded: „It’s much more than that. I would never suggest that it’s me against him. We don’t have a tennis match tomorrow, we’re bringing our teams. Pep will prepare his and I will prepare mine.

It’s training up next at the Dragao! #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/54MpyilNNs

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 28, 2021

„We have two experiences against them in different competitions, two different matches with two different lineups. Tomorrow will be a very different lineup, I think, but we have the experience of how much we had to suffer and how brave and courageous we need to be.

„It’s always tough to play against City, or Barcelona when Pep was on the sidelines. He creates this team with a huge belief, success and continuous winning mentality, so at the moment, they are maybe the strongest team in the world. They have built a huge gap between them and us in the league, but we closed the gap for 90 minutes at Wembley, we closed the gap for 90 minutes at City, and this is what we want to do tomorrow.“

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