Kepa vs. Sarri reactions: mutiny and anarchy on Chelsea’s sinking ship

2019 Carabao Cup final
Chelsea 0 Manchester City 0 (City win 4-3 on penalties)

There was only one story dominating this morning’s newspapers in the United Kingdom and it came from the Carabao Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

While Manchester City retaining the league cup would usually grab the headlines the honours went to Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga who refused to substituted during Sunday’s final.

With his No.1 suffering from cramp in the final minutes of extra-time, and with penalties looming, Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri instructed his substitute stopper Willy Caballero to prepare to come on for 24-year-old Kepa.

As Caballero waited on the touchline for his introduction and with Kepa’s number on the board indicating him to come off, what happened next stunned the world of football.   

Kepa, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, refused to leave the pitch and in reaction an angry Sarri went into meltdown mode on the touchline and even threatened to walk down the tunnel in disgust before returning to the dugout.

After extra-time the match finished 0-0 and City went on to win the penalty shoot-out 4-3, but the Kepa-Sarri incident has been the only thing football fans and pundits have talking about since.

Here we look at what the Chelsea manager and goalkeeper said after the final, what happens next for the Stamford Bridge club and how the media reported the “non-substitution”.

– Have you EVER seen anything like it!?

Maurizio Sarri tries to substitute Kepa Arrizabalaga for Willy Caballero, but Kepa refuses to come off and Sarri is absolutely FURIOUS! pic.twitter.com/Q81v6ry3Kk

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) February 24, 2019

What Sarri and Kepa said

A big misunderstanding

Sarri’s future at Chelsea was already under threat before the league cup final and now the incident with his goalkeeper will not help speculation that he has lost the faith of some of his players.

In his post-match interview Chelsea boss Sarri played down the incident and said: “There was a misunderstanding because I thought the goalkeeper had cramp so was unable to carry on for penalties but that wasn’t the case.

“As I said, the keeper understood I asked for the change for the injury but he didn’t need to come off.

“I realised only afterwards when the doctor came back to the bench – I only need to talk to him afterwards to clarify the situation nothing else.”

‘I did not go against the manager’

In a post on Twitter Kepa insisted that his reaction was not intended to undermine his manager but to let him know he was fine to play on. The keeper wrote: “I know if you see it from outside, I don’t know how it went out, it is not the best image. I have spoken with the boss. I think it was misunderstood.

“I understand that on television, on social media, they’re talking about this but I am here to explain it, to say that it wasn’t my intention to go against the manager.

“We have spoken now, and I was only trying to say I’m fine. He thought I wasn’t fine. It was in tense moments, with a lot happening.”

Vincent Kompany reacts to the Chelsea dispute between Kepa Sarri:

“I wish I could do it!” pic.twitter.com/1xhCgN76kk

— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) February 25, 2019

What happens next for Kepa?

The London Evening Standard reports that Chelsea are not planning to discipline their No.1 despite his refusal to be substituted. A source has told the Standard that the goalkeeper will not be punished or fined and that the club are “putting the altercation behind them”.

Chelsea play Tottenham in the Premier League on Wednesday and CNN’s Matias Grez asks if the Italian will allow Kepa’s act of disrespect to slide and select the goalkeeper for the London derby at Stamford Bridge?

The Daily Mirror’s football writers also have their say on the matter and there was mixed reactions to the question “should Maurizio Sarri drop his goalkeeper for Chelsea vs. Spurs?” Answering no, Mirror writer Andy Dunn said: “As unforgivable as Kepa’s actions were, the post-match stance of Sarri means the pair just have to move on.”

However, Mike Walters says Kepa should “absolutely” be dropped for the Spurs game. He wrote: “Who’s running this show? Who’s driving this bus? And who will get sacked when results don’t go as required? Never mind who’s the world’s most expensive goalkeeper, Sarri needs to show who’s the boss.”

And the Academy Award winners are:
– Olivia Colman, ‘The Favourite’
– Maurizio Sarri, ‘It Was A Big Misunderstanding’
– Kepa Arrizabalaga, ‘Watch Me Save Aguero’s Pen’ pic.twitter.com/VYXfB1Og3T

— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) February 25, 2019

Pundit reactions

Jermaine Jenas, BBC

“For one of the players to really go against Sarri on such a public stage doesn’t sit well with me. The fact he went inside and was not out there with his players is one thing, but it has to be infuriating for one of your players to categorically tell you to do one and say I’m staying on this pitch. It happened, it’s not pretty. This is a huge blemish. It all boils down to what is going on between Sarri and his players. That does not happen – there’s a lack of respect someway along the line.”

Chelsea legend John Terry, Sky Sports

“It’s a cloud over the Chelsea performance after they played and performed so well. It will be interesting to see if Kepa plays the next game. If I was in the dressing room I would expect the manager to come in and deal with it straight away.”

Chris Sutton, former Chelsea striker, BBC Radio 5 live

“Kepa should never play for Chelsea again – that should be his last performance in a Chelsea shirt. He’s a disgrace. I’ve never seen anything like it. If I was Sarri I would walk. You cannot be undermined. Why weren’t the players dragging Kepa off anyway? Kepa should be sacked, not Sarri.”

Phil McNulty, BBC chief football writer

“It was an ugly rebellion that exposed all the fractures in Sarri’s Chelsea regime – and was a new one even on those of us who have travelled the world and seen most things the game has to offer, good and bad. Chelsea’s loss is almost a side issue to the questions raised by Kepa’s behaviour and the damage this has done to Sarri inside his own dressing room and even higher up inside Stamford Bridge. Let’s get one thing straight. The first fault lies with the player – if you are told you are being substituted you go off. You may not like it but you go off.”

Jose Mourinho, former Chelsea and Man Utd manager, DAZN

“Luckily I never had to live through anything like this. I think on the one hand the goalkeeper wants to show his personality, his confidence, and wants to say ‘I’m here, I want to go to penalties and save them, and I am here with the confidence that I will go and do it’. And this is what I like. But then I don’t really like that he [Kepa] leaves the manager, the coaches and everyone else in a very fragile situation, also including one of his own team-mates who was ready to enter the pitch. Eventually we saw how he [Caballero] was thrown into a mess that he wasn’t really part of. It saddens me, because it’s a really complicated situation.”

Alistair Tweedale, The Daily Telegraph

“Many feel Sarri’s authority has been undermined irrevocably, and if he chooses to leave Kepa out of the team, it may only push him further towards the exit as the club is forced to choose between under-pressure manager and their expensive investment in goal. It looks something like an impossible situation for the Italian who, it is easy to forget, also lost a cup final somewhere in this mess.”

Barney Ronay, The Guardian

“Watching this it was impossible not to feel a curling of the toes. In the under-12s Arrizabalaga would have been led off by the referee or his mum. At Chelsea he stayed on, the world’s most expensive goalkeeper under a manager still paddling for air. How is this one going to play out?”

Ruud Gullit, former Chelsea manager, speaking to the BBC

“The captain [Cesar Azpilicueta] should have gone up to him and said ‘go off’. This is just a political answer for the newspapers so there is no confusion the next day. Everybody knows what happened. The way he [Sarri] reacted on the touchline says everything.”

How the UK media reported the incident

In tomorrow’s @Daily_Star

%u2013 Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa refuses to be substituted

%u2013 Oscars to take place overnight

%u2013 Eastenders’ Lacey Turner in baby joy

%u2013 Snowflakes slam “cruel” Steve Irwin#tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/UsK6cDNio6

— Daily Star (@Daily_Star) February 24, 2019