Maurizio Sarri: Chelsea boss says inability to practice set-pieces was the reason why he stormed out of final training session before Europa League final

Maurizio Sarri has said the inability to practice set-pieces was the reason he stormed out of Chelsea’s final training session ahead of the Europa League final against Arsenal.

With Gonzalo Higuain and David Luiz clashing at the end of a training match during the session, there was intense speculation that Sarri’s anger was over that confrontation.

Maurizio Sarri walked off the training pitch and threw his hat to the ground as he did during Tuesday’s training session

Sarri though, has denied that was the case, instead insisting he was ‘happy’ to see that kind of competitiveness from his players.

“I think you were not able to understand yesterday, because if my players are really aggressive in training, I am happy, not disappointed,” Sarri told BT Sport.

“I was disappointed because we wanted to try our solutions on set pieces, but after 50 minutes of training the cameras were there and so we were disappointed for the situation, not for the players.

“I think that you were not able to understand yesterday. Because if my players are very aggressive in training, I am happy – not disappointed.

“I was really disappointed because we wanted to try our solutions on set-pieces.

“But after 15 minutes of training the cameras were there. So we were disappointed with the situation, not with the players.”

And speaking on BT Sport ahead of the match as a pundit, Cesc Fabregas backed up his former manager’s version of events.

“I guarantee you this is the truth,” Fabregas, who left the Blues to join Monaco in January, said of Sarri’s explanation.

“He’s very superstitious. He loves to do the set-pieces, 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, that’s the weird thing about it, but the superstition is too much for him, he has to do it that way.”

Listen to the Europa League final on talkSPORT at 8pm on 29 May right here.

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