The Belgian midfielder was not included in Chelsea’s matchday squad for the FA Cup final against Manchester City on Saturday
Romeo Lavia missed out on the FA Cup final against Manchester City and Chelsea interim coach Calum McFarlane took to the pre-match press conference ahead the derby against Tottenham Hotspur to offer an update on his midfielder.
The Sky Blues beat Chelsea 1-0 on Saturday, forcing the Blues to a fourth straight FA Cup final defeat. To make things worse, Lavia was not included in the matchday squad despite having participated in eight of Chelsea’s last nine Premier League games.
An Antoine Semenyo goal midway through the second half was enough for Pep Guardiola to lead his team to the second domestic cup success of the season.
Meanwhile, McFarlane confirmed that Lavia has suffered an injury setback that ruled him out of the Wembley decider.
“Romeo picked up a slight knock in the build-up to the game,” he said. “Nothing major. But with Romeo, I didn’t want to take that risk. He didn’t want to take that risk. I thought he was brilliant in the games that he did play, in the same way Levi did. But you just have to be careful with players like that.”
Injuries have paid their toll on Lavia following his move from Southampton in the summer of 2023. In fact, since his arrival in the English capital the Belgian midfielder has made only 43 appearances across all competitions, including 21 this term.
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Our final home game of 25/26. 🏡🔜 pic.twitter.com/o0COsr6vEM
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 17, 2026
Sarr and Badiashile are fit and available
Mamadou Sarr and Benoit Badiashile also missed out on the game against Manchester City, but McFarlane has confirmed that neither of the two defenders are struggling with fitness ahead of the last two games of the season.
“They didn’t make the squad,” McFarlane added. “They’re training really well, training really hard – we can use them in the next two games potentially. We’ve got a lot of players in those positions. You want to make sure you’ve got the right players in defence. There’s nothing to report on those two.”
A win against Tottenham on Tuesday could bring Chelsea closer to achieving their objective of clinching European football ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.
With Xabi Alonso set to take over this summer, the Blues will look to end a turbulent season on a positive note by finishing as high as possible in the Premier League table after failing to win silverware this term.
