Kepa Arrizabalaga Apologizes to Maurizio Sarri: 'It Wasn't My Intention to Disobey'
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga apologized to manager Maurizio Sarri after Sunday's loss to Manchester City for refusing to be substituted during extra time of the League Cup final.
"It wasn’t that I was refusing to be substituted," Kepa said after the match, per the Associated Press. "It was a way of trying to tell the bench that I was fine."
Toward the end of extra time, Kepa went down with a cramp. Although he got back to his feet, Sarri tried to replace him with Willy Caballero, who had a key role in the shootout when Manchester City beat Liverpool in the 2016 final. However, Kepa refused to go off and angrily waved his arms in the air, causing Sarri to become angry with him.
Manchester City beat Chelsea in PKs after a 0-0 draw, with a 4–3 shootout victory to win the League Cup for the second straight year.
"In no moment was it my intention to disobey, or anything like that with the boss," Kepa added. "Just that it was misunderstood because I had been attended to by the medics twice, and he thought that I wasn’t in condition to continue.
"It was two or three minutes of confusion until the medics got to the bench, and they explained everything well."
Sarri said he understood why Kepa didn't want to come off the turf but doesn't want a similar incident to happen again.
"Kepa was right but in the wrong way," Sarri said. "He was right for the motivation but not for the conduct."
