2 hours ago
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Chelsea suffered an early blow in Baku when Romeo Lavia was forced off inside five minutes of their Champions League clash with Qarabag.
The Belgian midfielder, making just his fourth start of the season, pulled up in visible discomfort before being replaced by Moises Caicedo. It came after only four minutes of play, adding to Lavia's wretched injury record since joining the club.
Footage showed the 21-year-old sitting on the turf before limping off alongside Chelsea's medical staff.
Lavia's latest setback comes less than 24 hours after head coach Enzo Maresca had spoken about the need to 'protect' him and manage his return carefully.
The Italian said the midfielder was still regaining sharpness after multiple setbacks that had restricted his minutes this year.
'The main target for Romeo now is to be fit, and to not get any injuries,' Maresca said before the match.
Chelsea suffered an early blow in Baku when Romeo Lavia was forced off inside five minutes of their Champions League clash
Lavia's latest setback comes less than 24 hours after head coach Enzo Maresca had spoken about the need to 'protect' him
'For me, in this moment, Romeo is where Reece [James] was more or less a year ago, in terms of being back after a long time. So we need to manage him every day, every minute, every session. The target with him is to keep him fit.'
Lavia has endured a nightmare run of fitness problems since joining Chelsea from Southampton for £58million in 2023.
He missed almost the entire 2023-24 campaign through a thigh injury, making only one brief substitute appearance against Crystal Palace last December before being ruled out again.
According to Transfermarkt, he has suffered three separate setbacks in 2025 alone - including hamstring, thigh and muscle issues - keeping him sidelined for around 190 days this calendar year.
He joined Chelsea on a seven-year deal after turning down Liverpool in the summer of 2023 but is yet to complete 90 minutes for the Blues.
