The end of the Carabao Cup on Sunday afternoon saw an extraordinary incident, when Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to come off the pitch after his substitution had been announced.
Kepa had gone down with what looked like cramp towards the end of the game. Former Man City keeper Willy Caballero was stripped off and waiting to come on but had to sit back down after Kepa refused to leave the pitch.
Talking on talkSPORT (The Jim White Show, Mon, 10am), BBC pundit Danny Murphy said that he had never heard of a keeper getting cramp and made a big claim that he claimed could have got him “off the hook”.
“I have never seen a goalkeeper with cramp,” said Murphy. “Never. So, he’s either got a weak mentality and he’s looking for a way out, or he’s deliberately wasting time to try and get the game to penalties.
“It’s a blag. He can’t come out and admit to time-wasting and faking an injury but perhaps that’s what he did and the message didn’t get through to Sarri.
“That could have get him off the hook but when your number’s up you’ve got to come off. And the disrespect he showed to his fellow goalkeeper is the biggest problem for me.
“The cramp, I don’t understand it. The Chelsea goalkeeper coach should be sacked if he’s got cramp. I just do not understand it. I’ve never seen it, ever.”
OPINION
Danny Murphy was adamant that he’s never once in his long career seen a goalkeeper with cramp. And why would he? Goalies don’t run around, their job isn’t exhausting, they don’t run kilometres. And his explanation would make a lot of sense given Kepa’s bizarre behaviour. Lots of words were shared between Kepa and some of his defenders, and it might be that he through he could fake cramp, waste time and see the game through to a shootout, where he could be the hero. Unfortunately, if that’s what he did, he didn’t bank on Sarri dragging him off just before the end. And he didn’t want to lose his chance to be the hero and help Chelsea lift the Carabao Cup. The fact he refused to come off will have serious repercussions for the keeper though, and his antics have seriously backfired. He’s made all the headlines, and not for the right reasons.