There were so many signs of the Chelsea squad showing Maurizio Sarri zero respect, but one will always go down in history.
The sight of Kepa refusing to be substituted in the Carabao Cup final while Sarri prowled the touchline getting increasingly angry was remarkable to see, and the writing was on the wall at that point.
It turns out it wasn’t just the Spanish keeper who had little respect for his manager, and it shows why he’s no longer in charge at Stamford Bridge.
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A report from Goal.com looked at some comments from Gary Cahill, and he’s particularly scathing of the now Juventus manager:
“We went to the 2018 World Cup, got to the semi-finals, so I missed pre-season, which I think was massive looking back now. He was very much into his tactics, probably too much, and I missed all of that,”
“I was on the back foot. To be brutally honest, halfway through the season, the relationship was gone. I don’t think that was ever going to be recovered.”
“It’s difficult to have respect for some of the things he did. But I have a lot of respect for the club, and for the players. As a big figure then, as captain, to go about things totally the wrong way, which I easily could have done, it’s not the way to do it.”
“Was that easy? No. Was that one of the mentally toughest things to deal with? Especially because it went on for so long? One hundred per cent. “
It’s hard to tell who’s in the right here, as Sarri being “into his tactics” shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing, but there’s a British tendency to ignore strategy and tactics to an extent, and that always comes back to bite them on the biggest stage.
Chelsea players have a history of acting up and getting the manager sacked, so it looks like Sarri was always going to be the latest in that line.