Moisés Caicedo was Chelsea’s hero on Saturday, scoring a belting goal in the 2–1 win over Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, and the good news for supporters is he’ll now get a rest over the international break after being omitted from Ecuador’s squad amid fitness concerns.
Caicedo, a superstar for both club and country, plays 90 minutes almost every time he takes to the pitch and is one of many to have endured a shortened pre-season because of his involvement at the Club World Cup.
Late last week, Ecuador manager Sebastián Beccacece admitted: “About Moisés, his coach [Enzo Maresca] said he’s injured. He’s not well, but he’s so ambitious and committed that he always wants to perform like he did against Argentina. We’re reconsidering whether he’ll be included in the squad.”
Those comments came just days before Caicedo completed his ninth full game of the campaign, scoring a stunning strike in a famous 2–1 win over Liverpool. He was subsequently left out of the Ecuador squad.
Caicedo’s current condition remains a mystery, but Beccacece declined to take any unnecessary risks with his star player, given Ecuador’s upcoming fixtures are both friendlies against the U.S men’s national team and Mexico.
After Chelsea’s victory over Liverpool, Blues assistant Willy Caballero had to step in for Enzo Maresca in front of the media after the manager was sent off for his extravagant celebrations of Estêvão’s late winner. The former goalkeeper, who spent four years as a player with Chelsea between 2017 and 2021, offered an update on the midfielder.
“About Moi, what else can we say? He has played a lot of games with the Club World Cup and with the national team, so we need to manage him sometimes as we want him to arrive to matches feeling well,” Caballero explained.
“Against Liverpool, he did, once again, a great job and had a great game. Also, he scored a fantastic goal that gave us an opportunity to manage the game a little bit more.
“We need to keep an eye on him because all the players who played constantly from [the start of] last season are living with some things, which is why we think about Moi and Enzo [Fernández]. Sometimes, they need to do partial team training because we want them to arrive well to the game.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Not Well’ Chelsea Star Spared 10,000+ Mile Round Trip for Internationals.
