Chelsea star handed suspension blow to add to nightmare injury scenario

Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo reacts after his red card during Ecuador vs Argentina (Image: RODRIGO BUENDIA/AFP via Getty Images)

Chelsea midfielder Moises Caicedo was sent off during Ecuador's 1-0 victory over Argentina in the final round of fixtures in South American qualifying for next summer's FIFA World Cup.

La Tri were well on their way to victory, having opened the scoring in the 13th minute of first-half injury time, by the time Caicedo was giving his marching orders.

He had received a first yellow card in the 16th minute of the meeting and his second was awarded only five minutes after the second-half restart.

The Chelsea star was dribbling into the opponent's half when a heavy touch allowed Argentina's Nicolas Gonzalez to position himself between the midfielder and the ball. All it took was Caicedo to take a swipe with his right foot to try and retain possession, and a faint touch saw his rival fall to the ground.

Caicedo raised his hands as if to indicate his innocence as the reigning world champions protested, and Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan quickly issued the second booking.

Thankfully for the Blues star and his country, it had little bearing on the result or their qualification for next summer's major tournament, which had already been sealed. However, Caicedo is now set to miss the opening match of the 2026 World Cup group stages as punishment.

This comes after fellow midfielder Andrey Santos underwent surgery on an injury suffered while with Portugal's Under-21 training camp over the September break. He is set for a lengthy spell in recovery.

A Portuguese FF statement read: "The Chelsea midfielder was excused from training due to a muscle problem in his right thigh, which he suffered after training on Monday.

"The athlete was evaluated by the Portuguese Football Federation's Health and Performance Department on Tuesday morning and was declared unavailable."

Elsewhere, Andrey Santos started and played 73 minutes of Brazil's 1-0 defeat to Bolivia. Joao Pedro and Estevao Willian also made substitute cameos.

Like Argentina, defeat had no impact on Brazil, as they had already reached the World Cup finals, but the match was staged in El Alto, which is 4,648m above sea level. Neymar Jr once famously lambasted the 'inhuman' conditions opposition players faced when playing in La Paz, which is 560m lower in altitude.

The trio will now embark on the near 13,000km flight back to London in recovery, only days before Chelsea visit Brentford in the Premier League.

To end on a higher note, Reece James started again for England as Thomas Tuchel's side continued their own World Cup qualifying campaign with a resounding 5-0 win over Serbia.