talkSPORT’s Ryan Mason tore into Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga’s for his behaviour during the final moments of extra-time in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City.
City won 4-3 on penalties after the two sides could not find the net in 120 minutes of football at Wembley.
However, the cup final will always be remembered for an incident just before the end of extra-time where Kepa defied manager Maurizio Sarri’s orders to come off for stand-in keeper Willy Caballero despite going down with injury.
Kepa insisted to the Blues bench he was fine and stayed on the pitch but this prompted Sarri to have a mega meltdown and the Italian looked as though he was heading down the tunnel mid-game at one point.
Chelsea lost the shootout even though Kepa was equal to Leroy Sane’s spot-kick but the Spaniard’s actions beforehand was a huge talking point.
Mason described Kepa’s actions as a ‘disgrace’ and claimed captain Cesar Azpilicueta should have done more to make the substitution happen.
And the former Tottenham and Hull midfielder suggested the incident could lead to Sarri leaving his post as manager.
Mason said on The Final Word: “It’s a disgrace, it should never happen on a football pitch. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it but you have an experienced captain in Azpilicueta on that pitch who captains Chelsea Football Club and that’s his duty to escort the player off.
“His manager’s ordered him [Kepa] to come off for whatever reason, whether it’s injury related or whether he fancied the other keeper more because he’s a specialist in penalty shootouts.
“But for him to actually refuse it and the captain to kind of back the keeper and not get involved is an absolute disgrace.
“In any normal dressing room I’m sure the senior players would be having some serious words but when the incident happened on the pitch none of the players reacted.
“I’m sure if John Terry was on the pitch at that time he wouldn’t have allowed that type of thing to happen.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Sarri walks, I really wouldn’t. I fell really sorry for him after this.
“That’s ultimate disrespect from a player that has been given to him and it really wouldn’t surprise me if he walked.”
talkSPORT’s Stuart Pearce also said Kepa was wrong to go against the orders of his manager.
Immediately after the match, Pearce said: “I think if your goalkeeper goes down on two occasions just before a penalty shootout you’ve got every right as a manager not to trust his full fitness.
“It was too crucial to leave him on the pitch and once your number comes up on that board you’ve got to come off the pitch.”