Former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho said he has never had to deal with the kind of behaviour Kepa Arrizabalaga displayed at Wembley.
In an unprecedented incident, the Blues goalkeeper refused to be substituted during the Carabao Cup final leaving manager Maurizio Sarri to fume on the touchline.
“I don’t like that he leaves his coach and the assistant coach [Gianfranco Zola] in a situation of great fragility. It saddens me for them,” Mourinho, who lost his job at Stamford Bridge in 2016 said.
“Luckily I never had to go through this.”
Both manager and player have played down the incident, which has left many in the game stunned.
“I’m telling you the truth – it was a misunderstanding,” Sarri told talkSPORT. “I understood that he had cramp so we needed to change because I didn’t want a goalkeeper with cramp in the penalty shoot-out.”
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Mourinho, though, did say he admired Kepa, who became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when Chelsea paid £71m for him last summer, for his desire to help his side.
Speaking to DAZN, he said: “The goalkeeper wants to show his personality, his confidence, wants to show that he is there and wants to be at the shootout and make saves — and I like that.”
With the game finishing 0-0 in normal and extra-time, the game was to be decided by penalties.
Raheem Sterling slammed in the winning spot-kick off the underside of the bar as Manchester City retained the Carabao Cup.
City were handed the advantage in the shoot-out as Jorginho had the first kick saved by Ederson. But they clawed their way back in as Arrizabalaga saved Leroy Sane’s penalty, only for David Luiz to put City on the brink by missing his.
Eden Hazard kept his nerve, but Sterling finished things off.