Chelsea star’s World Cup nightmare becomes reality as his tournament hopes end following injury

Chelsea have confirmed that Ben Chilwell is ‘expected’ to miss the World Cup due to an injury he sustained in the Champions League.

Chilwell has played an important part in the Blues’ season to this point. The left-back has played 13 games in all competitions, starting eight of those.

He has also scored one goal and registered two assists. After sitting out Chelsea‘s penultimate Champions League group game, Chilwell returned for the final game against Dinamo Zagreb.

Indeed, his workload has been managed, given he has recently returned from a knee injury.

The left-back managed the full 90 minutes, before pulling up in added time during the 2-1 win. Following Chilwell’s injury, Chelsea boss Graham Potter revealed things did not “look positive”.

The manager also said that a scan would take place to understand the extent of the injury.

Chelsea have now put out a statement regarding how serious it is: ‘Following the injury sustained in our recent game against Dinamo Zagreb, Ben has undergone a scan on his hamstring.

‘Results show that Ben has suffered a significant injury and the defender is unfortunately expected to miss the World Cup.

‘Ben will now begin a rehabilitation programme with the club’s medical department.’

Chilwell World Cup dream shattered

It will be devastating news for the Englishman to miss the World Cup. He has played 17 times for his country, including a number of the World Cup qualifiers.

It would have been little surprise if he was a member of the squad for the tournament. While he did not play in the last EUROs, he was in the squad.

It will now be another four years until he gets the chance to represent England at another World Cup.

At that point, he will be 29 years old. While he should be in his prime years then, that could be his only chance to play a big part in the major tournament.