The last time Chelsea reached the EFL Cup was three years ago. With Maurizio Sarri at the helm, Chelsea faced Manchester City, and late in the game one of the most notorious incidents in recent club history took place.
Kepa Arrizabalaga went down late in the game to waste time, but the bench thought he was seriously hurt. They tried to take him off, he refused. Things got ugly. Sarri stormed all the way to the door of the dressing room before turning and coming back. His authority never really recovered, and Chelsea lost the shootout.
Kepa was given a lot of blame for what happened, and rightly so. But now he will be the man between the sticks when Chelsea play in the final again in February.
“[It was] three years ago already. I spoke about that in the last interviews, I spoke very clear,” Kepa said spikily in quotes picked up by Football.London.
“What I can say is that I learn from that situation. It was not easy but I learn a lot. I want to look forward. I want to look at this season and arrive to another final and win the competition if possible.
“I want this trophy and competition. We know what happened in the last final, now I’ve learnt and now I want to look forward.”
It’s fair for him to want to move on, and this will actually be the perfect opportunity for him to exorcise some career demons at Wembley. Let’s hope it leads to a match winning performance.
