Real Madrid of Spain youngster, Marvin Akinlabi Park missed out on a historic UEFA Champions League semi-final clash with Chelsea, as he is yet to play himself back into reckoning at The Santiago Bernabeu.
Megasportsarena.com gathered that a recent bout with injury has sent Akinlabi down the perking order of youth prospects in Madrid’s main team, thereby limiting him to only second team action for the time being.
That led to his absence in the 23-player roster named by Los Blancos’ coach, Zinedine Zidane for the second leg of their UCL semi-final tie against Chelsea in London, though clubs are allowed to name up to 12 substitutes on their bench for European matches.
In Akinlabi’s absence, Madrid failed to impress, as Chelsea set up an all-English final with Manchester City with 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and went through 3-1 on aggregate.
Timo Werner put Chelsea ahead (28), nodding into the empty net from under the crossbar after Kai Havertz’s chip had hit the woodwork, before Real rode their luck as the hosts missed four big chances to double their lead in the opening 20 minutes of the second period.
The hosts finally got their second to kill off the tie with five minutes remaining as Mason Mount stuck home substitute Christian Pulisic’s centre at close range, capping off a fine display and marking an extraordinary turnaround at the club since Thomas Tuchel joined in January.
Chelsea will now play in their third Champions League final (2008 and 2012) in Istanbul on Saturday May 29, and have set up just the third all-English Champions League final after 2008 (Man Utd-Chelsea) and 2019 (Liverpool-Tottenham) as Manchester City look to complete a treble.
Three of Akinlabi’s teammates at Real Madrid’s second team, Castilla made the squad for the game at Stamford Bridge, as Miguel Gutierrez, Antonio Blanco and Sergio Arribas, leaving out the Nigerian-born lad, who had made the list for the clash with Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
It is another downturn for the 21-year-old Akinlabi, who saw his progress with Real’s first team halted for several weeks after picking up an injury on his full debut against Getafe in February and he was not even selected for Castilla’s last two league matches against Extremadura and CD Badajoz.
