Chelsea have been rocked by the double loss of defender Ricardo Carvalho and midfielder Michael Ballack ahead of their Champions League semi-final return leg
at Anfield on Tuesday night.
Chelsea have confirmed that Germany international Ballack underwent surgery on
the ankle he damaged in the goalless draw at Newcastle last week and Carvalho is
out after injuring his knee in today's 2-2 draw with Bolton.
Ballack was forced out of action in the first half against Newcastle and the
operation, thought to have been carried out to repair ligament damage, almost
certainly puts him out of action for the rest of the season.
A statement from Chelsea read: 'We can confirm that Michael Ballack had an
operation on his ankle injury yesterday.'
Carvalho hurt his knee in the first half of Chelsea's draw with Bolton at
Stamford Bridge and boss Jose Mourinho admitted that he is out of their clash
with Liverpool.
Mourinho confirmed: 'He is definitely out. He has injured his knee and it is
a big blow for us. He has been our best defender this season - it is as simple
as that.
'We lost at Liverpool in the Premiership without him and we go to Anfield
again without him.
'But when we lost in the league we had to play Paulo Ferreira at centre-back.
We have better options for centre-back this time.'
