Chelsea Players Respect Sarri – David Luiz

David Luiz has said Maurizio Sarri is respected by the Chelsea dressing room despite yesterday’s incident.

Chelsea GK, Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to get off the pitch in a substitution that would’ve seen Chelsea’s second goalkeeper be between the sticks for the penalty shoot-out, clearly disregarding Sarri’s decision to sub him.

He said, “The coach has the power over the group,”

“He has our respect. People can think in a negative way or a positive way. It is about our lives, it is always like that. People are negative, people are positive, people are happy, they are sad. For me there is not a problem here for that.

“We all believe in his philosophy, we all believe in the way he wants us to play. That’s why we did a great game against the best team in Europe at the moment. Apart from that, it was a misunderstanding and we all want to do what is best for Chelsea.

“It is never easy for us to listen from afar. I didn’t know if the coach wanted to make the change because it was his decision or because he [Kepa] had already been on the floor twice. Kepa was saying ‘No, I’m good, I can stay on the pitch’, but from far you can’t understand. You have the fans too, they start to boo [so it’s hard to hear].

“I’m sure if Kepa knew the coach wished to change him because it was his decision, he would have come off because he is a great professional, he is a great boy and would respect that.

“But I think he just didn’t know if the coach was changing him because he was on the floor twice or if he wanted to change him because it was his decision.”

“He is a fantastic person so of course the players are with him. For me it was more difficult to miss the penalty that didn’t get him the trophy than it was for me. I wish I had given that to Sarri.

“I think we played a great game. It is never easy to play against a team who you lost to two weeks before like the way we lost. We were mature enough to understand that and to do a great plan to play against them. We did great, especially in the second half.

“We were the better side and could have scored — if we’d done that the game would have been different. In the end it went to penalties and sometimes the luck is not on your side.”