Chelsea defender Malang Sarr admits a “strange situation” has hit him and his team-mates amid the off-field saga surrounding the club’s sale

Chelsea defender Malang Sarr has admitted the “strange situation” at the club has affected him and his team-mates.

The Blues are currently third in the Premier League and have yet to win the FA Cup and Champions League, but things have been chaotic off the pitch at Stamford Bridge lately.

Roman Abramovich’s desire to sell the club was somewhat thwarted by sanctions imposed on him after the UK government announced it had found evidence of links between the Chelsea owner and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The sale of Chelsea appears to be still ongoing, with four bidders making it onto the shortlist to follow Abramovich.

But at the moment there is still uncertainty at the club and Sarr insists it’s difficult to ignore the noise outside while he and his team-mates keep a professional head on the pitch.

“It affected us a bit because it’s a strange situation,” Sarr told talkSPORT.

“We’re professionals, we have to take care of our job and our job is on the pitch, that’s the only thing we can handle.

“With that in mind, all we have to do is work hard and try to get the result for the club no matter what.”

Thomas Tuchel’s side have largely played well despite the noise, winning four out of five games since March 10, when the sanctions were imposed on Abramovich.

However, their last game was very atypical for Chelsea as they were defeated 4-1 at home to Brentford in the Premier League.

The Blues will try to recover when they take on Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals game on Wednesday night.

Listen to the full Chelsea v Real Madrid commentary live on talkSPORT, kick-off at 8pm.