LONDON: Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri said goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had made a big mistake refusing to be substituted during the League Cup final but he was young and the club’s intention was not to “kill him.”
Sarri — speaking on the eve of their Premier League clash with third-placed Tottenham Hotspur — reiterated the board’s ruling that Kepa be fined a week’s wages for the episode.
Kepa, the club’s record £71 million ($93 million) signing from Athletic Bilbao, refused to leave the field to be replaced by Willy Caballero.
Sarri then stormed off down the tunnel in anger before returning — Chelsea eventually lost to City on penalties.
“I spoke with the goalkeeper, with Kepa, of course,” he said.
“Then we spoke altogether, because he said sorry to the technical staff, but it was not enough.
“Then he said sorry to his team-mates, to the club.
“I think he made a big mistake, but we need to be taller. We don’t want to kill him. So there is a position from the club.
“For me the situation is finished. He is a young player (24), he made a mistake, but stop.”
Sarri, though, would not confirm that Kepa would be between the goalposts against Spurs.
It is a pivotal match not only for Spurs and their battle for the title but for Sarri’s side’s three way tussle with Arsenal and Manchester United for the fourth and final Champions League spot.
“I have to decide, maybe yes, maybe not,” said the 60-year-old Italian.
“It will be a decision for the group. For all the players.”
Sarri denied Kepa’s petulance and refusal to obey his orders reflected a greater malaise that he had lost the dressing-room.
“Did you see the match on Sunday? So you have the answer.
“After the game is the same. I think better,” said Sarri, whose side improved on their 6-0 league hammering by City a few weeks ago to only lose on penalties.
Asked if he felt the support of the players was now greater, Sarri said: “Yes.”
“I am not under pressure,” he added. “For me the pressure is a normal pressure.”
Maurizio Sarri says Chelsea aren’t out “to kill” Kepa Arrizabalaga
Maurizio Sarri says Chelsea aren’t out “to kill” Kepa Arrizabalaga
- Blues keeper fined for Sunday's outburst.
- Chelsea face London rivals Tottenham on Wednesday with Kepa's starting spot under threat.
Qatar’s Al-Attiyah wins Stage 6 for Dacia, retakes Dakar lead
- Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time
RIYADH: Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah will lead the Dakar Rally into its second and final week after winning the sixth stage in the Saudi desert on Friday to take over at the top from South African rival Henk Lategan.
Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner now competing for the Dacia Sandriders, had been second overnight but turned a deficit of more than three minutes into a 6 minutes and 10 second advantage over the 326km timed stage between Hail and Riyadh.
Saturday is a rest day before the rally resumes in Riyadh on Sunday with seven more stages to the finish in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast on Jan. 17.
Al-Attiyah won Friday’s stage by two minutes and 58 seconds from teammate and nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Dacia’s first Dakar one-two, with Toyota’s American Seth Quintero third.
Overall, three different manufacturers filled podium positions with Toyota’s Lategan second and Ford’s Nani Roma third — his first time on the virtual podium since 2019.
Al-Attiyah, 55, has now completed 19 successive Dakars with at least one stage win every time.
Friday was his career 49th stage win in the car category — one off the record held jointly by Ari Vatanen and “Mr Dakar” Stephane Peterhansel.
Spaniard Carlos Sainz, father of the Formula One driver and a four-time Dakar winner still racing hard at the age of 63, was in fourth place for Ford with teammate Mattias Ekstrom fifth and Loeb sixth.
American Mitch Guthrie, stage winner on Thursday for Ford, dropped to seventh from sixth.
In the motorcycle category there was no change at the top, although leader and defending champion Daniel Sanders was handed a 6-minute penalty for riding at 98kph in a zone limited to 50kph.
KTM rider Sanders now leads Honda’s American Ricky Brabec, the stage winner after the Australian’s penalty, by 45 seconds with Argentine rider Luciano Benavides more than 10 minutes behind in third.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster all day. Unfortunately, I got a speeding penalty, so that will set me back a bit,” said Sanders.
“I just pushed as much as I could today but it’s hard to do good in the sand, especially opening. I did the best I could and I’ve got to stop making silly mistakes. I haven’t pieced this first week together so well.”
