N’Golo Kante AND Edouard Mendy set to be fit for the Champions League final, reveals Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel has delivered positive fitness bulletins on both Edouard Mendy and N’Golo Kante ahead of Saturday’s Champions League final.

Mendy, who hurt ribs in a collision with the goalposts during Chelsea’s defeat at Aston Villa on Sunday, has undergone scans and they show nothing has been broken or seriously damaged.

‘We hope to have him back in training on Wednesday,’ said Tuchel. ‘We had a huge improvement in the management of pain. We need a further update on Wednesday.

Edouard Mendy (left) and N’Golo Kante (right) are set to be fit for Chelsea’s Champions League final against Manchester City on Saturday

Manager Thomas Tuchel revealed the good news in a pre-final press conference on Monday

‘Edou will play if he is fit and if he is not fit on Wednesday we will try on Thursday. And we will try on Friday and be always reasonable and take the responsibility for this decision.

‘At the same time, we have trust if he cannot make it we have a strong guy on the bench with Kepa, who will take his place.

‘So now the race is on. We are very happy, first of all, that the images don’t show that the injury is too serious. At the moment we are positive but every hour counts.

Goalkeeper Mendy (pictured) suffered a first-half rib injury against Aston Villa on Sunday 

‘Hopefully the team around Edou and he himself can do enough and can help him enough to be on the pitch. It will be a good boost for us.’

Kante has been out since tweaking a hamstring on Tuesday in the Premier League against Leicester.

He missed the trip to Villa Park and Tuchel remains positive, even though he joked that he might stop asking the medical team for updates and simply throw the France midfielder back into training.

Kante (middle) limped out of Chelsea’s victory over Leicester last week with a hamstring issue

‘With N’Golo nothing has changed,’ said Tuchel. ‘I think about changing my tactics now and stop asking about N’Golo, just put him on the pitch in Wednesday’s training and put him on the pitch when the game starts on Saturday.

‘Maybe I will not speak to the doctors and physios any more so I hear no more doubts and no more complaints. 

‘Maybe I have to think about changing the tactics. But it looks good and I hope it stays like that.’