Chelsea news LIVE: Club withdraw Middlesbrough request after backlash and Roman Abramovich sanctioned by EU

Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel, was full of praise for Kai Havertz after the 22-year-old secured all three points for the Blues in the Premier League game against Newcastle yesterday.

Tuchel was impressed with Chelsea’s game management and called Havertz a ‘quality and reliable’ player. Tuchel said:

A moment from Kai Havertz that displays why we keep coming back to football, in a match that offered so many reasons to stay away.

Procedure insists we must state the scoreline of this match at Stamford Bridge was a late 1-0 win for Chelsea over Newcastle United, but the real significance is not on the table or anything like this. It is what it means for the sport, and society.

The wonder is how a fixture like this will be looked back on. What will its place in history be?

There were many moments when it barely felt like a football match at all, and not just because it was mostly a poor game.

It is difficult not to feel that, just at the point where the Premier League appears to have reached a peak in terms of financial power, this showcased the absolute worst of the sport. So much of it, put bluntly, was so depressing.

After a week of uncertainty over the future of Chelsea football club both senior teams stepped up on the pitch at the weekend to give their supporters a bit of hope and joy going forward.

Thomas Tuchel’s men’s team took on Newcastle at home, playing at Stamford Bridge for the first time since receiving government sanctions due to owner Roman Abramovich’s links to Russia in wake of their invasion of Ukraine.

The Blues faced a tough challenge from Eddie Howe’s men - themselves under pressure due to their Saudi-backed ownership after 81 men were executed in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

A moment of brilliance from Kai Havertz earned Chelsea all three points after he brought down an aerial pass from Jorginho in the box and tapped it around Martin Dubravka to send the Blues in front mere minutes from the end of the game.

Remarkably, Emma Hayes’ women’s team mirrored the events at Stamford Bridge as they took on Aston Villa in the Women’s Super League.

Sam Kerr scored a stoppage-time winner as Chelsea beat Villa to boost their WSL title hopes in what was also their first home game since owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned.

Kerr pounced on a long pass from keeper Zecira Musovic in the 92nd minute and poked the ball home, an outcome that was cruel on a resolute Villa side.

The sanctions also meant that only supporters who had bought season tickets or individual match tickets before 10 March were able to attend the match at Kingsmeadow.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government, placing the club’s future in limbo.

The Russian-Israeli billionaire has owned Chelsea since 2003, but he put the club up for sale amid the threat of being sanctioned following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The government’s “oligarch taskforce” has set about targeting those with links to the Kremlin and has sanctioned Abramovich due to his ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin, as well as his stake in the company Evraz PLC, which has been “potentially supplying steel to the Russian military which may have been used in the production of tanks”.

The government’s sanction paper explained: “Abramovich is associated with a person who is/has been involved in destabilising Ukraine & undermining/threatening territorial integrity, sovereignty & independence of Ukraine, namely Vladimir Putin, with whom (he) has had close relationship for decades.”

Nick Candy’s vision for a redeveloped Stamford Bridge could hand the British billionaire an edge in the battle to buy Chelsea.

Property tycoon Candy remains interested in bidding for the Champions League holders, despite uncertainty around the club’s sale after owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned by the UK government on Thursday.

Russian-Israeli billionaire Abramovich’s UK assets are now frozen except for Chelsea, with the west London club handed a special licence to continue trading.

Chelsea’s sale remains technically on hold for now, but the Treasury could issue a new licence to allow a deal to go through – provided Abramovich receives no benefit.

A spokesperson for Candy confirmed the 49-year-old’s continued interest in Chelsea.

“We are examining the details of yesterday’s announcement and we are still interested in making a bid,” said Candy’s spokesperson. “Clearly this is a time of great uncertainty for all Chelsea fans.

“In our view, no one is the owner of a football club – you are the custodian of it for the fans and the community.”

A host of US investors still harbour interest in Chelsea, with LA Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly part of one consortium, and Chicago Cubs owner Tom Ricketts another with a strongly rumoured interest.

Prime minister Boris Johnson’s government and the Premier League would likely oversee any Chelsea sale now, and Candy’s status and credentials could sit well with those power brokers.

Candy has already declared his ambition to revamp Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium should he win the race to buy the club.

He is putting together a consortium offer for the Blues and his property sphere nous should find favour in Downing Street and Treasury corridors, it is understood.

Analysts believe a fully modernised and expanded Stamford Bridge could boost Chelsea’s commercial revenues by up to 25 per cent per annum.

That major potential uplift, if coupled with an astute financing plan for the stadium rebuild, is among the main reasons for the continued brisk interest in the Chelsea sale.

Boosting the hotel offering at Stamford Bridge and also conferencing facilities would be among the other offshoots of a stadium rebuild.

Chelsea technical director Petr Cech confessed that the club was being run on a day-to-day basis after the imposition of a spending cap - due to sanctions on club owner Roman Abramovich - means that the club may run out of money before the end of the season.

As part of theses sanctions, investments from club sponsors are on hold, ticket sales have been limited and matchday spending has been capped leading to suggestions that Chelsea may fail to pay their players and employees perhaps even run out of cash before the season concludes.

"It’s been devastating to watch what’s happening in Ukraine and our thoughts are with the victims of the situation. I hope people will stop suffering," Cech told Sky Sports ahead of Chelsea’s game against Newcastle yesterday.

“When you compare to what’s been happening here, it’s a difficult situation. We have many questions, we don’t have many answers but we are determined to concentrate on things we can control. We are going day by day to try and finish the season.

“We hope the situation will be clearer soon. We hope people working for the club will be able to get their salaries and to live their lives and work.

“This is a difficult question for me to answer because I don’t have the answers. I don’t know what the lessons will be like in days. Without answers, it’s difficult to plan.”

In more positive news for the Blues, the technical director does not expect to lose manager Thomas Tuchel any time soon, saying:

“Thomas has a contract until 2024, as it stands we’ve been told that the contract will be valued, we hope we will have him as a coach because he’s been brilliant on every level.

“But tomorrow the situation can change and my answer will be irrelevant.”

Thomas Tuchel has confirmed he will stay at Chelsea until at least the end of the season and insisted he would drive the sanction-hit club to next week’s Champions League game in Lille himself if he had to.

The Blues boss, speaking after Sunday’s victory over Newcastle thanks to Kai Havertz’s last-gasp winner, revealed little has changed for the club’s first-team set-up so far in the wake of owner Roman Abramovich’s UK Government sanctions.

Abramovich had all his UK assets – barring Chelsea – frozen on Thursday, with the Government claiming to have proved the 55-year-old’s links to Vladimir Putin amid Russia’s continued war in Ukraine.

Tuchel reaffirmed his immediate commitment and expects a sale to be carried out in standard timescale.

“There’s no doubt I’ll stay until the end of the season, absolutely,” the German said.

Amnesty International called on the football authorities to do more to combat ‘sportswashing’ before Chelsea faced Saudi-bankrolled Newcastle at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

It was the Blues’ first home match since sanctions were imposed upon owner Roman Abramovich for his links with Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Newcastle were taken over by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in October and Magpies co-owner Amanda Staveley said last week she was “really sad” that Abramovich had been effectively stripped of ownership.

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund has given legally binding assurances, which have been accepted by the Premier League, that the Saudi state will have no control over Newcastle.

Amnesty International UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh said: “Big money has obviously dominated top-level English football for years, but this game is a particularly stark reminder of the fact we’re now in an era of global sportswashing.”

Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel, says he is willing to do whatever it takes to get his team to France for their Champions League last 16 second leg tie against Lille on Wednesday.

The government sanctions on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich mean the Blues have been limited on how much money they can spend for expenses including travel to away games with the cap currently set at £20,000 per game.

Chelsea are 2-0 up on aggregate in the tie and Tuchel said the team will do anything to get to the game and continue to defend the trophy they won last season.

“My last information is that we have a plane, that we can go by plane and come back by plane,” said the Chelsea boss, “If not we go by train, if not we go by bus – if not, I’ll drive a seven-seater! And I will do. Mark my words I will do; I will arrive there.

“If you’d asked me 20 or 30 years ago if I would join a Champions League match at the sideline and what I was willing to do I would have said, ‘OK, when do I have to be where?’

“And why should this change? I will be there, we will be there. Of course, organisation-wise, there are some negotiations going on and some talks, but it does not influence me.

“We have brilliant guys who organise the travel, and in every department we have such committed people that for the moment things feel normal.

“I think practically things have changed more for the guys who for example organised the journey to Lille, because they had to figure out how we arrive there.

“But in the end I get the information so for me personally when I come to the building, actually nothing has changed so far. We do our meetings, we prepare training, we talk to doctors, fitness department, talk to the players and do the best training possible.

“And we demand it, from everybody, because this is what makes Chelsea special, and Chelsea a top club.”

Chelsea fans enjoyed a fleeting moment of joy and exhilaration sparked by the genius of Kai Havertz after 88 minutes of frustration on Sunday. That sublime goal was a welcome distraction to many after a turbulent week, but the cold reality bites today amid the uncertain future of the club. A peculiar atmosphere greeted those in attendance for the match against Newcastle following the financial restrictions imposed on Roman Abramovich. It was a grim outlook for the Premier League as the two clubs that best represent the height of sportswashing fought it out for three points.

The uncomfortable background, from the government sanctions on the Blues to the execution of 81 people on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, was only intensified by the visiting supporters. The Toon Army revelled in their own newfound wealth from their Saudi benefactors, while lauding the miserable outlook of their opponents with Saudi flags seen fluttering in the Shed End throughout.

It is important to state that there is a sizeable contingent of the Chelsea’s fanbase who hold resentment towards the government, failing to observe the bigger picture with their selfish reactions. One fan held up a sign outside Stamford Bridge with the message: “Don’t use Chelsea for your bull**** politics”.