Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Football London
Football London
Sport
Aidan McCartney & Greg Johnson & AIDAN MCCARTNEY

Cesc Fabregas backs Maurizio Sarri over Chelsea's bizarre Europa Leauge training ground bust up

Former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas has played down the incident that saw Maurizio Sarri storm off in training ahead of the Europa League final.

The Italian appeared to be less than pleased at the end of an open session in which the media had been invited to watch the Blues prepare in Baku.

He marched off the field before his team's alloted time had expired, leading to suspicions that all might not be well in the Chelsea camp.

The club later clarified what happened to cause their manager to leave the pitch at the Olympic Stadium in Baku.

"Maurizio's frustration displayed at the end of training was not related to any of his players," said a spokesperson.

Cesc Fabregas embraces Maurizio Sarri as he is taken off against Nottingham Forest. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

"But was due to not being able to practise set-plays in the final 15 minutes of the hour-long training session as it remained open to media."

Speaking on BT Sport prior to kick off, Fabregas backed his former head coach.

"I guarantee you this is the truth," he said. "He’s very superstitious. He loves to do the set pieces, the tactics, offensively, defensively, the day before a game.

"They didn’t allow him to do it because it was an open session. For sure they would have told him [it was an open session] which is the weird thing but he has to do it that way."

Keep up to date with the latest Chelsea news, features and exclusives from football.london via our free WhatsApp service .

Click here to enroll or text NEWS to 07557204594 and then add the number to your phone contacts book as   chelsea dot london   (case sensitive, with spaces) to receive daily updates and breaking news from Oliver Harbord and the team on Chelsea.

Your phone number won't be shared with any other members of the group. Click here for more information on the service.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.