Chelsea's US forward Macario to miss Twente trip

jonty colman - bbc sport journalist

Wed, 16 Oct 2024, 1:52 pm·2-min read

Chelsea's Catarina Macario looks on during a training session — Chelsea forward Catarina Macario has made 17 appearances for the Blues since joining from Lyon in the summer of 2023 [Getty Images]

Chelsea will be without forward Catarina Macario for their Women's Champions League match against Twente on Thursday night.

United States international Macario, who featured as a substitute in Sunday's 2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, has not travelled to the Netherlands for the match, with the 25-year-old currently returning to full fitness.

Macario was sidelined for 20 months after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament in June 2022 before making her debut for the Blues against Leicester City in March.

She then missed this summer's Olympics in Paris with a knee issue.

Blues manager Sonia Bompastor confirmed Macario will not be involved at Grolsch Veste, but added that Macario is set to be involved in Sunday's London derby with Tottenham at Kingsmeadow.

"With Catarina we are building some minutes and building her fitness, that's part of the plan and her own process," said Bompastor.

"We work individually with every player and try to give them what they need to be fit and at their best level. We felt it was a good decision to have her in London working individually with some staff.

"She'll be ready for the game on Sunday."

Heading into Thursday's match with Twente, Chelsea sit behind their Dutch opposition on goal difference, with both teams winning their group stage openers last week.

Chelsea were 3-2 winners over Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge, while Twente won 2-0 at Celtic.

While Bompastor's side got off to a perfect start in Group B, she has called for a more convincing performance in Enschede, having been pegged back twice when leading by two goals against Real.

"I think from one game to another we want the performance to improve," she added.

"We have a gameplan but sometimes it's different and you expect something different from the game model, but getting a result is the most important thing.

"We want to perform as well and we want to perform tomorrow. Coming from the Madrid game, I want my team to be dominant and to have more consistency in the performance."