Chelsea captain Reece James has debunked reports that he’s injured and won’t be available to face Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday’s final of the Club World Cup.
The right-back had been on the teamsheet in Philadelphia last Friday but pulled out after the warm-up.
However, the England international has declared himself fit after clarifying the issue that saw him miss the quarter-final win over Palmeiras.
“Just to be clear, I wasn’t injured so let’s put that to bed,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling so good in the warm-up, with my history.
“I could have played but it was a warning. It would have been ‘why did I not listen?’ (if I got injured), so I decided not to take an unnecessary risk.”
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The Blues face the exhilarating and in-form French outfit in Sunday’s Club World Cup final in New York and know the odds are stacked against them.
James is convinced Chelsea can defy the odds and pull off a huge upset against Paris St Germain to be crowned world champions.
“But I have been in finals where I have played for the favourites and not come out on top, so this doesn’t mean much to me and I don’t care, to be honest, that everyone is ‘bigging up’ our opposition.
“PSG have beaten all the English teams, they have an amazing team, but we have an amazing team and have surprised a lot of people.
“We’ve come a long way on our journey from where we started. We are preparing right and going there to win.
“I believe we will go toe-to-toe. Stats, data, favourites and not favourites don’t mean anything to our team.”
