A defiant Maurizio Sarri insisted he wants to lead Chelsea into next season, despite the club’s fans calling for him to be sacked during their controversial victory at Cardiff City.
The Italian had to listen to repeated chants of “We want Sarri out” and “You don’t know what you’re doing” before his team came from a goal behind to snatch a 2-1 victory.
Rarely can a Chelsea manager have been on the receiving end of such sustained and direct abuse.
Chelsea had trailed from the opening minute of the second half, when Victor Camarasa scored, until the 84th minute when Cesar Azpilicueta equalised from an offside position.
Substitute Ruben Loftus-Cheek then scored a dramatic winner 10 seconds from the end of normal time to leave Sarri feeling bold enough to declare: ““I want to stay here.
“When I arrived the team were 30 points behind Manchester City. I want to stay and improve results, but it is not easy work.
“At the moment, there is a difference between Manchester City, Liverpool and us. I want to improve the team.”
Asked how he had felt when the chants of “We want Sarri out” rang out from the visiting fans, Sarri said: “I don’t want to answer, but I can understand the reaction of the fans.
“But it was probably best for them to wait until the end of the match.
“I am getting used to this and for me it’s not a big problem. I just have to work to change their opinion.
“If I win matches, then the fans will be happy. Sometimes during a season, you need to win matches like this.
“We were lucky with the first goal. But I think we deserved to win.
“I haven’t see the replay, but Neil told me he was sure he was offside by two yards.
“He told me about the referee’s decision, but I can understand the situation. They were winning until 10 minutes from the end.”
The victory keeps Chelsea in sixth place, but only a point behind fourth-placed Manchester United.
The turnaround may also have emboldened Sarri to launch a staunch defence of his selection decisions.
He began with both striker Eden Hazard and midfielder N’Golo Kante on the substitute’s bench and failed to hand either a start or substitute’s appearance to England teenager Callum Hudson-Odoi.
“Hazard cannot play 70 matches a season,” added Sarri. “Kante has played a lot of games and in every season there is a moment when you have to give players a rest.”
