Man City beat Chelsea in cup final
February 26, 2019 00:00:00
LONDON, Feb 25 (AP): As Manchester City celebrated defending the League Cup, Chelsea was trying to clean up the fallout from a player mutiny on the Wembley field.
In the two hours it took for Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to explain why he refused to accept being substituted as Sunday's game headed to a penalty shootout, the damage had been done.
Maurizio Sarri not only lost out on a first career trophy but the Chelsea manager lost some of his authority.
When Sarri saw Kepa struggling with an apparent injury as the clock approached 120 minutes with the final locked at 0-0, Willy Caballero was summoned to come off the bench.
Kepa was insistent he was fine to continue, wildly indicating with his arms. When that failed, the world's most expensive goalkeeper just decided not to leave the field.