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What's the news?
Chelsea defender David Luiz has revealed that he told Kepa Arrizabalaga to respect Maurizio Sarri's decision when the manager decided to replace his custodian with Willy Caballero during the Blues' Carabao Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
In case you didn't know...
Manchester City were crowned as the champions of the League Cup for the second consecutive season as they beat Chelsea 4-3 on penalties in the finals on Sunday.
However, despite the Cityzens' success, it was the incident involving Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri and goalkeeper Kepa which grabbed the larger part of the headlines.
The Spanish goalkeeper refused Sarri's decision to replace him with Willy Caballero before the commencement of the penalty shoot-outs. The Italian become furious by Kepa's behavior and even started to move towards the tunnel before turning back to take his place on the touchline.
The heart of the matter
Speaking to Sky Sports, Chelsea defender David Luiz revealed that he asked Arrizabalaga to respect coach's decision.
He said:
"I just said to him we have to respect the decision of the coach.
But, I don't know if the coach wanted to change him because he was feeling pain or it was his [tactical] decision."
He further elaborated:
"I think the coach he wished to do the substitution because [he was not sure] of the injury, he didn't understand that. [Kepa] was telling us he was good. He was okay. The game sometimes you don't have much time to explain things, it's okay.
Asked why Sarri wanted to replace Kepa, he said: "I was not on the other side, so I don't know."
Maurizio Sarri also gave his verdict on the incident after the game and insisted that it is was just a 'misunderstanding'.
He said:
“It was a misunderstanding, I heard there was a problem and we needed to change it. I realized the situation only when the doctor arrived on the bench after some minutes. It was a misunderstanding, I understood the goalkeeper had a cramp and would be unable to go to the penalties.”
What's next?
Chelsea will play Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham next in the league before hosting Dynamo Kyiv at the Stamford Bridge for the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie on March 8.
