Former Chelsea player and coach Gianfranco Zola has now shared a hidden detail about when Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be subbed off in the League Cup final.
He told ‘Up Front with Simon Jordan’ that the Blues thought they had a fresh injury concern to deal with in the final few moments of the final against Manchester City at Wembley.
As they looked to hold on to a 0-0 draw with their opponents and force penalties, it looked as if Maurizio Sarri and assistant Zola were keen to make a change between the sticks ahead of the spot kicks.
Kepa refused to be subbed
With penalty expert Willy Caballero on the bench, it looked as if the manager was keen to have his best option to save them on the pitch for the final moments.
Kepa seemed to disagree with this decision, and refused to be subbed off, remaining on the pitch for the shootout.
While he did make one save, it wasn’t enough, as City man at the time Raheem Sterling struck the winning penalty.
Zola has now shared how the bench actually believed the Spaniard may have been injured, after he had been suffering in the week before with a leg problem.
Zola thought Kepa was injured
He said: “I think you need to know that Kepa all week wasn’t feeling 100%. He had a problem with the leg. So when he went down we thought it was the problem coming back. But actually he was trying to lose a bit of time, because we were going towards penalties, we were struggling, so we wanted to lose time.
“But I think then we decided to make the change. We knew Caballero was a good player for penalties so we decided to make the change.
“But Kepa didn’t understand that. At a certain point the referee came to me, and I was dealing with the situation, and I should have been stronger and told him to go there and take him out. But then I said we will do it next [time].”
Kepa is currently on loan at Real Madrid, however has lost his place in the starting side in recent weeks.
It feels as if despite the fact he is still a Chelsea player, there is no future for him at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues currently prioritising Djordje Petrovic between the sticks.