Jose Mourinho says Kepa Arrizabalaga left Maurizio Sarri in 'fragile situation' at Chelsea

By Rory O'Callaghan

There were incredible scenes at Wembley as Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to be substituted by Maurizio Sarri in extra time

Jose Mourinho believes Kepa Arrizabalaga's actions in the Carabao Cup final left Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri in a "very fragile" situation.

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Kepa refused to leave the field in the closing stages of Sunday's defeat to Manchester City, despite frantic attempts from Sarri to bring on reserve goalkeeper Willy Caballero ahead of the penalty shootout.

Kepa insisted the incident was not an act of disobedience against Sarri, who also played down the disagreement in his post-match comments, describing it as merely a "misunderstanding".

Former Chelsea defender Mario Melchio has criticised Kepa Arrizabalaga for refusing to follow his manager's directions

However, former Chelsea manager Mourinho believes Kepa's actions have created a "complicated situation" at Stamford Bridge.

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When asked if he had any experience of a player refusing the leave the pitch during his managerial career, Mourinho told DAZN: "No, luckily I never had to live through anything like this.

"I think on the one hand the goalkeeper wants to show his personality, his confidence, and wants to say 'I'm here, I want to go to penalties and save them, and I am here with the confidence that I will go and do it'. And this is what I like.

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Brighton manager Chris Hughton felt Kepa's refusal to be substituted during the Carabao Cup final demonstrated how much emotion there is in the game

"But then I don't really like that he [Kepa] leaves the manager, the coaches and everyone else in a very fragile situation, also including one of his own team-mates who was ready to enter the pitch.

"Eventually we saw how he [Caballero] was thrown into a mess that he wasn't really part of.

"It saddens me, because it's a really complicated situation."

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