Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior was informed after his team's heavy Champions League defeat on Wednesday that his starting lineup was leaked before kickoff, raising suspicions.
It had been a while since there was talk of lineups leaked to the press, and it happened again on Wednesday in one of the Champions League round of 16 first-leg matches. It was at the PSG-Chelsea match, played at the Parc des Princes, which ended in a rout of the London side by the Parisians.
A few hours before the duel, French journalist Fabrice Hawkins published a tweet on the social network X with the following message: "To face PSG, Chelsea is expected to line up the following XI at the Parc des Princes: Jorgensen, Gusto, Chalobah, Fofana, Cucurella, James, Caicedo, Palmer, Fernandez, Neto, Joao Pedro." He not only got the 11 players in manager Liam Rosenior's lineup correct, but also the position each would occupy.
He guessed that Reece James would accompany Moises Caicedo in the double pivot, something that has happened many times this season, but it can never be taken for granted, since the England international is really a right back. In addition, it was also revealed that the starting goalkeeper in Paris would be Jorgensen instead of Spain's Robert Sanchez, one of the big doubts ahead of this match.
He also correctly predicted Marc Cucurella's start (returning from injury) ahead of Hato, and Pedro Neto's over Alejandro Garnacho, who was arriving in great form and whose presence could not be ruled out. Rosenior admitted he was unaware of the security leak during his pre-match preparations. "I wasn't aware," he said after the match when informed of the leak, according to the Daily Mail.
"I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it if that's the case. These things happen quite often now. We get information about our rivals. I'm more concerned about the final result than the start of the match."
Chelsea must now regroup quickly before the crucial Premier League match against Newcastle on Saturday. With the club currently in fifth place in the table and fighting to finish in the top four, the pressure on Rosenior to find a solution to the defensive fragility is mounting. While PSG will enjoy a weekend off following the postponement of their Ligue 1 match, Chelsea must immediately recover their resilience.
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