Nations Cup Fallout: Chelsea Drops Victor Moses

English club Chelsea have dropped their Nigeria international Victor Moses from the squad to face Sparta Prague in their Europa League tie on Thursday.

The Nigeria international had been quickly recalled for the trip to the Czech Republic which forced him to travel back to England from South Africa instead of heading to Abuja with his teammates. But Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez has carefully avoided him.

It seems Benitez do not want to make the same mistake as Celtic manager, Neil Lennon, who played Efe Ambrose against Juventus two days after the Africa Cup of Nations final match against Burkina Faso in South Africa.

Ambrose, who only arrived in Glasgow on match day, turned out a huge deficit to Celtic despite his sterling performance for Nigeria in South Africa. Lennon confessed on Wednesday that he took “a gamble” by fielding Ambrose. He was disappointed.

Moses only arrived London on Tuesday for the Wednesday flight to Prague, "we had to drop him".