Chelsea news: The Blues' players surprised by Maurizio Sarri's habit in training

What's the news?

According to the Telegraph, Chelsea players were surprised to see Maurizio Sarri and his coaching staff smoking in the training earlier this season.

In case you didn't know...

Chelsea manager, Maurizio Sarri is famed for sparking cigarettes in the middle of matches, and was regularly seen puffing away on the touchlines during his time in the Serie A.

According to the report by Joe.co.uk last year, the Italian smokes around 80 cigarettes a day, meaning one every 12 minutes. This means that he smokes 29,220 cigarettes in a single year, out of which 22,000 are smoked during the regular football season.

Germain club, RB Leipzig reportedly built a special smoking room for him when they faced Sarri's old club, Napoli, in the Europa League last year.

Maurizio Sarri smoking in the stands after being sent off... #NapoliMilan pic.twitter.com/Shbzygq41S

— Serie A News (@TransfersCalcio) February 22, 2016

The heart of the matter

According to the reports, The Blues' players were awed to see their boss dragging cigarettes in the training ground during the initial weeks of the season.

It is illegal to smoke a cigarette on the touchline in the Premier League games. However, Chelsea reportedly built a special smoking area inside Stamford Bridge to allow the Italian to smoke before or after games, instead of smoking near the touchline.

Nevertheless, that doesn't stop the Italian from chewing cigarette buds on the touchline to cut down his urge of smoking.

What's next?

Chelsea started the season brilliantly and were challenging for the title during the initial months of the campaign. However, they have lost momentum and are currently sixth in the Premier League table, one point adrift of the Champions League qualification places.

They will play Malmo FF in the Europa League next, before squaring off against Manchester United at the Stamford Bridge in the FA Cup.