A blog of two halves

Chelsea stars gear up for delayed Euro 2020

Three of Chelsea’s European Champions League-winning team are in Gareth Southgate’s 26-strong England squad.

3 June 2021
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Chelsea's Mason Mount (pictured in October 2020) is in the England squad for the delayed Euro 2020 tournament. PICTURE: GETTY IMAGES

Three of Chelsea's European Champions League-winning team are in Gareth Southgate's 26-strong England squad for the delayed Euro 2020 tournament which starts next week.

Mason Mount, Ben Chilwell and Reece James are all confident of playing some part in the competition, and could get their first outing in a friendly against Romania this Sunday.

But it's shaping up to be a busy summer for most of the Blues' internationals.

Midfielder Jorginho and defender Emerson are expected to represent Italy at the opening game in Rome on Friday 11 June. Jorginho, who already has 27 caps, has caught the eye of the Italian manager Roberto Mancini, while Emerson will be making his first appearance as left back at a finals tournament.

Meanwhile, Olivier Giroud, N'Golo Kante and Kurt Zouma are in the French squad, Michy Batshuayi will be playing for Belgium, Mateo Kovacic for Croatia and Andreas Christensen for Denmark, with Ethan Ampadu turning out for Wales.

Billy Gilmour is on Scotland duty, while Timo Werner, Tony Rudiger and goal-scoring hero Kai Havertz will be representing Germany, and Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta will be playing for Spain.

But it goes beyond that. Chelsea's squad is also involved in qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, there's a new regional competition in North and Central America, and there are friendlies to be played in Africa.

Christian Pulisic will be wearing his USA shirt for the Concacaf Nations League, while Thiago Silva (provided he recovers from injury) could be in the Brazil team against Paraguay next week.

Hakim Ziyech is lining up for Morocco in a friendly, with Eddy Mendy minding the goal for Senegal in a couple of matches too.

England's first Euros action comes on Sunday 13 June, when Kovacic is likely to be marking Mount as the Lions take on Croatia at Wembley.

Thomas Tuchel will be tuning in to watch the action from his holiday home.

The Chelsea manager, who met club owner Roman Abramovich for the very first time on the pitch at Porto as the Champions League trophy was being presented, says he has no plans to take his foot off the pedal.

"I will not rest; we don't want to rest. I want the next title," he barked after it was suggested he might take it easy for a bit.

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and unless specifically stated are not necessarily those of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

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Tim Harrison

Tim is our Chelsea FC blogger.

He also writes our Shepherds Bush Cricket Club match reports during the football close season.

Tim has been writing Chelsea match reports since the late 1980s for newspapers and, more recently, websites.

When he first reported on the Blues, the press box was a metal cage suspended over the lip of the old west stand - and you reached it via a precarious walkway over the heads of the fans.

But he has been a Chelsea fan since his father took an excited seven-year-old to watch Chelsea v Manchester United in the mid 1960s... and covered his ears every time the chanting got too ripe.

In July 2005 he wrote The Rough Guide to Chelsea, published by Penguin, which sold 15,000 copies.

His favourite player of all time is Charlie Cooke, the mazy winger who lit up Chelsea's left wing in the 60s and 70s.

When he isn't watching the Blues, Tim acts, paints, writes and researches local history.

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