Chelsea’s winners & losers from March international break

Chelsea were well-represented across the globe during the March international break, with many players building up some much-needed momentum ahead of their returns to Cobham.

The Blues are back in a bit of a rut and need all the confidence they can build before this weekend’s meeting with a lowly Burnley side who will fancy their chances of snatching something at Stamford Bridge, and thankfully, there were plenty of top performances from Chelsea stars this week.

Here’s a look at Chelsea’s winners and losers from the March international break.

He might be struggling for minutes at club level, but Noni Madueke continues to excel for England’s Under-21s.

After scoring in a 5-1 win over Azerbaijan, Madueke exploded with two goals and two assists in a 7-0 thumping of Luxembourg. He could hardly have done more to prove to Mauricio Pochettino that he deserves minutes.

As one of the most in-form players in the Premier League, Cole Palmer shouldn’t have to worry about his spot in England’s squad for Euro 2024, yet the star midfielder is still sweating over his involvement this summer.

An injury kept Palmer out of England’s defeat to Brazil, before he went unused in the draw with Belgium. We know how big Gareth Southgate is on picking players who have already proven their worth to the team, so it was tough to see Palmer miss out on the chance to impress.

Mykhailo Mudryk netted the goal which booked Ukraine’s spot at Euro 2024. Does it get much better than that?

With six minutes left on the clock in their play-off final against Iceland, Mudryk fired home a massive goal which must have done wonders for his confidence heading into a big stretch of the season with Chelsea.

After a really impressive run with Chelsea, Djordje Petrovic was handed just his third cap for Serbia as he seeks to claim the starting goalkeeper spot.

Unfortunately for Petrovic, his audition went terribly. Serbia shipped four unanswered goals in a 4-0 loss to Russia, before he was back on the bench to watch his side beat Cyprus 1-0.

A side effect of Marc Cucurella’s struggles at Chelsea was his continued absence from the Spain squad. He made his international debut in June 2021 and had not represented his nation for close to three years before being called back up this month.

After sitting on the bench for a 1-0 defeat to Colombia, Cucurella was handed 90 minutes in the 3-3 draw with Brazil. It might not have been the best defensive performance, but it was simply good to see him back in a Spain shirt.

Ben Chilwell managed two starts for England, the first of which attracted plenty of unwanted criticism. The left-back didn’t have his best game against Brazil and was bashed by fans on social media, and Southgate even came out and pledged his allegiance to Luke Shaw after the game.

Things got a little better in the draw with Belgium, but Chilwell still left England duty with something to prove.