Today marks the second anniversary of the mental scenes at the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Chelsea when goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be subbed off.
The game was heading to penalties and Arrizabalaga and gone down with a hamstring injury but was fine to continue but then Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
Sarri warmed up substitute goalkeeper Willy Caballero and the fourth official called Arrizabalaga off the pitch but the Spaniard lost it and refused to leave the field of play.
#OnThisDay in 2019…#CFC goalkeeper Kepa refused to be substituted by manager Maurizio Sarri during Chelsea’s Carabao Cup final clash with #MCFC! pic.twitter.com/22ASNQGG8y
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) February 24, 2021
Video courtesy of Sky Sports Football via Twitter
The game eventually went to penalties which Chelsea lost due to two missed penalties by Jorginho and David Luiz.
Keep did save one penalty but his efforts were not enough to prevent the Blues from losing the cup final.
Following the defeat Maurizio Sarri had calmed down and in his post match interview the Italian said: “I misunderstood the problem and only realised the situation when the doctor arrived at the bench,” he said.
“He understood I asked for a change for his physical problem. He said: ‘I haven’t a physical problem.’ And he was right.”