Chelsea defender David Luiz has spoken about his recovery from a hamstring injury which has kept him out of Chelsea's fixtures for the last month, claiming that he is confident of being fit for Saturday's Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, in Munich.
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo said after the 2-1 win over Blackburn Rovers in last Sunday's final Premier League game of the season that both the Brazilian and Gary Cahill were pushing for a starting spot on Saturday. Now Luiz has told Blues fans via Chelsea TV;
It [the injury] is improving now and I am feeling better day by day. On the pitch I am more comfortable and I want to play football. My place is on the pitch, not outside it. I wanted to play against Barcelona and I wanted to play the FA Cup Final, but now I have one more game more special than all the others and for this I think and I hope that on Saturday I play against Munich.
The news will come as welcome relief to the club, who are already without suspended captain, John Terry for the game, while usual replacement Branislav Ivanovic also sits out having collected his second booking of the competition's latter stages against Barcelona.
Should Luiz and Cahill be fit, both are expected to start against Bayern's potent attacking lineup of Arjen Robben, Mario Gomez and Franck Ribery. Failing that Chelsea could have a major headache, forcing Jose Bosingwa and/or Paulo Ferreira into the middle, both of whom are naturally fullbacks, or the relatively untested Oriel Romeu.
For more buildup to the game from a Chelsea perspective, check out our Chelsea blog, We Ain't Got No History.