Andreas Christensen shocked Chelsea team-mates by refusing to play in FA Cup final

Denmark defender Andreas Christensen withdrew on the morning of the game after insisting he wasn’t ready to play despite the starter expectation – then disappeared from the team hotel

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Tuchel “proud” of Chelsea player despite FA Cup defeat

Andreas Christensen has not made himself available for the FA Cup final.

Christensen’s Chelsea team-mates were shocked and confused after the Danish defender disappeared from the team hotel on Saturday morning. Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel opted not to select him, resulting in a last-minute change and disruption to his plans.

Christensen complained of being unwell during the week, played at Leeds, wanted to play at Wembley but Tuchel clearly decided against it, even though his team-mates were expecting him. Christensen is due to join Barcelona this summer and now it looks like he has played his final game for the club and is set for a bitter exit.

Chelsea were frustrated during contract negotiations when they made a new offer to Christensen earlier in the season and believed they had reached an agreement with the former academy graduate.

But Christensen changed agents last year and Chelsea refused to change the terms of the offer, which has led to a major stalemate and ultimately led to his departure.

Chelsea boss Tuchel publicly admitted to having left Christensen out of his starting XI because of the lengthy negotiations earlier in the season.

But with Antonio Rudiger and Christensen set to leave on free transfers this summer, Tuchel has both used them in recent weeks and it’s hard to believe the Dane would not have played given Chelsea’s injury woes.

Rudiger is set to join Real Madrid and Christensen’s imminent departure means Chelsea will have to look for two new centre-backs this summer.

Trevoh Chalobah played to the right of Chelsea’s three-man defense on Saturday but Christensen’s unexpected last-minute absence was definitely an unwelcome distraction.

Chelsea struggled ahead of the game as Kai Havertz was sidelined with a hamstring injury after a fitness test on Friday.

Timo Werner was also absent and although he was on the bench he complained of a hamstring problem during the warm-up and was unable to play.