Jose Mourinho’s verdict on Arrizabalaga’s show of defiance

Jose Mourinho says he is saddened by the actions of Kepa Arrizabalaga’s actions in the Carabao Cup final and believes Maurizio Sarri is in a “very fragile” situation.

The Chelsea coach was left helpless as Arrizabalaga failed to come off in Sunday’s League Cup final at Wembley.

Sarri wanted to replace the former Atletico Madrid man with penalty expert Willy Caballero, but despite his number going up and Caballero stripped off, Arrizabalaga, who had twice gone down with apparent cramp, refused to come off.

The goalkeeper has since insisted the incident was not an act of disobedience against Sarri, who also played down the disagreement after the match, describing it as merely a “misunderstanding”.

However, former Chelsea manager Mourinho, who was sacked at Man Utd in December, believes Arrizabalaga’s actions have created a “mess”.

When asked if he had any experience of a player refusing the leave the pitch during his managerial career, Mourinho told DAZN: “No, 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.”

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