Chelsea have been dealt a sizeable injury blow ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League tie against Atletico Madrid, with Thiago Silva ruled out.

The veteran Brazilian defender has been sidelined since limping out of the first half of the Blues’ 1-0 Premier League win over London rivals Tottenham on February 4, missing the wins against Sheffield United, Barnsley and Newcastle as well as Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton at St Mary’s.

Silva was pictured in training at Cobham towards the end of last week, but was not fit enough to play on the south coast and neither will he return on Tuesday when Thomas Tuchel takes charge of his first European contest as Chelsea boss against the LaLiga leaders in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, report Evening Standard.

“He is not available,” Tuchel said of Silva during Monday’s pre-match press conference. “He is training right now. We are leaving and he is not available.”

However, the German did confirm better news that both Kai Havertz and Christian Pulisic will be in contention for the last 16 first-leg clash.

“Very happy that both of them are in the group,” Tuchel said. “They trained with us, no complaints, and they travel with us.”