Chelsea made it into the last-16 and are now set to face off with Borussia Dortmund for a spot in the quarter-finals.
The Blues face an away trip to Germany on February 15th before a return leg at Stamford Bridge on March 7th.
However, a number of Chelsea’s new signings will be forced to sit out both games and any further games Chelsea may play in the competition this season.
This is because only three new players can be registered for the knockout stages, so Chelsea are left with a major selection headache having been so busy in the transfer market. They signed a total of eight players, at least six of which have a claim to be in the CL squad.
Due to UEFA rules, Chelsea are required to register all their new signings on List A by the February 2 deadline, which will limit all clubs to 25 players. The Blues had a 24-man squad for the group stage which leaves one spot open to adding a player. It means only one of Fernandez, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile can be added initially before Chelsea have to start removing current senior players to make the squad.
Of their eight winter signings, it seems likely that Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile and Enzo Fernandez will be the three chosen for the last-16 squad. Joao Felix is not a permanent signing so Potter may choose to pick actual Chelsea players over him, whilst the remainder of the Blues’ winter additions are all younger and lack experience.
