Why is Christian Pulisic not playing against Real Madrid?

Stamford Bridge awaits. The legend of Frank Lampard has returned to try to restore some pride to a club that has spent a fortune on an inflated squad but massively underperformed domestically. Sitting midtable in the Premier League, they are currently looking over their shoulder more than aspiring to those ahead.

The Champions League has provided some hope for optimism, but not much, and they go into the quarter-final second leg against the holders Real Madrid needing to overturn a 2-0 deficit. It would have been a tough ask even if they were playing well, which they’re not.

Where is Captain America, Christian Pulisic?

So, the team that Lampard has sent out for the game is clearly the one that he thinks can win by a couple of goals at least -- it’s not as if he’s saving players for the almost irrelevant league game at the weekend. Here’s the starting XI:

Kepa; Reece James, Thiago Silva, Fofana, Chalobah, Cucurella; Kovacic, Gallagher, Kanté, Enzo Fernández, Havertz

For those sharp eyed followers of the game, you’ll have spotted that Christian Pulisic, one of the heroes of the United States Men’s National Team, is not there. Why? Well, because he hasn’t impressed.

Last time out, against one of the big positive surprise outfits of the season, Brighton, he did get the nod but didn’t last an hour. Chelsea lost that game.

Yes, injuries have had their say on his season but the man referred to as Captain America has flopped along with his teammates. He’s featured in a total of 27 games, mainly coming off the bench to have an impact. And he’s not had enough of one to change that.

He got zero minutes in that first leg defeat in Madrid last week. Could a stunning substitute appearance on Tuesday turn around his fortunes with Lampard and the Blues? The smart money is on him instead finding a new club in the summer, potentially with tonight’s opponents’ city rivals Atlético.