Chelsea summer signing Christopher Nkunku suffered a knee injury as his side fired a late shot to secure a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund at Soldier Field on Thursday in the final game of their pre-season tour of the United States.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side dominated possession for most of Chicago’s game, but it was Dortmund right-back Marius Wolf who eventually broke the deadlock with an 80th-minute strike, although Chelsea young striker Mason Bristow found the net shortly before injury time. grades.
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Pochettino admitted that the quality of the field at Soldier Field caught the eye “wasn’t ideal,” as the stadium hosted an Ed Sheeran concert over the weekend.
Soldier Field has a capacity of 61,500, but a record 73,000 turned out for the concert which had on-field fans surrounding the stage.
Nkunku went down clutching his leg after a ninth-minute tackle, though Pochettino refused to take the blame on the pitch.
“We took some risks because the stadium is not perfect. The facilities are used for a different sport and that sometimes is the danger of the Tour,” said Pochettino.
“But we wouldn’t blame the pitch for the injury. For me, it was bad luck.”
Nkunku came off midway through the first half feeling uncomfortable and was later seen with an ice pack strapped to his knee.
“The doctors are looking at him and I hope it’s not a big problem,” Pochettino said. “He fell down in the game, which was probably a penalty kick, and he feels something in his knee, but we hope it’s not a big deal.”
“Hopefully he can get back up quickly with the team. We need a few days to assess his condition.”
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.
