Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta should be stripped of the club’s captaincy according to a representative of teammate Antonio Rudiger.
Azpilicueta has come under criticism for his lack of interference in the Carabao Cup final – which Chelsea lost 4-3 on penalties to Manchester City – following an incident between manager Maurizio Sarri and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.
What actually happened between Arrizabalaga and Sarri? Five things you need to know…
- Arrizabalaga was seemingly injured late into extra-time, going to ground twice and receiving treatment.
- Sarri decided to bring on substitute goalkeeper Willy Cabellero for the remainder of the match and the impending penalty shootout.
- Despite the fourth official raising the electric board signalling the change, Arrizabalaga vehemently refused to leave the field of play.
- Defying Sarri’s wishes, the Italian coach was visibly furious with his player.
- Club captain Azpilicueta has been criticised for his lack of involvement in trying to help the situation.
Football agent Saif Rubie – who was involved in Rudiger’s transfer from AS Roma to Chelsea for £29 million in 2017 – believes that Azpilicueta should have shown more leadership qualities and enforced Arrizabalaga to follow his manager’s instructions.
Rubie took to Twitter – though his tweets have now been deleted – where he originally wrote: “I’m a fan of Azpi but as captain he should never have allowed what happened with the [goalkeeper] refusing to come off to happen,”
“For me he needs to have the captaincy taken off him, [goalkeeper] dropped for the foreseeable future and Rudiger to be made Chelsea captain as he’s a real leader.”
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“The situation is clear”
Sarri has spoken in great detail regarding the incident following the side’s defeat in the Carabao Cup. Chelsea performed admirably on the day – far better than their 6-0 defeat to the Citizens earlier in the month – and were perhaps unlucky to be on the losing side.
However, despite their hard work, all people could talk about was the incident involving Sarri and the world’s most expensive goalkeeper.
With Azpilicueta coming under criticism, Sarri was quick to defend the Spaniard, saying: “The captain spoke to me immediately after the match. Then he spoke with Kepa. Yesterday we spoke all together. The situation is really very clear in the dressing room.”
Despite being captain on the pitch, Azpilicueta is not actually the club’s official skipper. That remains Gary Cahill, who has made just seven appearances this season, with his last coming in October.
Speaking in November on his decision regarding the club’s captain, Sarri said: “As we have seen in the last matches the captain is Cahill, and if Cahill is not on the pitch, the captain is Azpilicueta, like at Burnley.
“Our captain is Cahill. Cahill was the captain last season. I spoke with his team-mates and everybody told me he was really a very good captain.”
Chelsea’s next Premier League fixture is against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
The post Rudiger rep wants Azpilicueta stripped of Chelsea captaincy appeared first on Squawka News.
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