Sarri on his future, Hazard, Kante latest, his decision up front and problems understanding his players
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri spoke about a number of issues at a news conference on the eve of the Europa League final against Arsenal. Here’s what the Italian had to say.
On N’Golo Kante
“He has a very little problem with the knee. The problem is the timing because we have only four days. We are trying.
“It’s not really a very serious injury. At the moment we don’t know. We will try until the last moment, but we don’t know at the moment.”
On how likely Kante is to play
“I think 50-50 at the moment. Yesterday 60-40 for no, today 50-50. He was a little bit better this morning.”
On the possibility of Kante missing out
“We are in trouble with the midfielders. At the moment we have only three midfielders.
“For us, N’Golo is really very important. He is the only defensive midfielder we have. We will try to recover him.
“I hope to recover him because I know that without N’Golo for us there is a problem.”
On reports Sarri is leaving for Juventus
“I want to think only about the final. Then I have a contract with Chelsea for two years.
“So first of all I will speak with Chelsea. But this is not the moment. Now we need to think only of the final because our feeling is that we deserve to win.”
On Chelsea’s season
“We had a wonderful season because in the last season Chelsea wasn’t in the Champions League and now we are in the Champions League.
“We played in a final in a competition in which we played against Liverpool and Tottenham – the two finalists of the Champions League.
“Then we lost in the final against Manchester City, who are the best team in Europe at the moment in my opinion.
“Tomorrow we will play the final of the Europa League. So I think we played a very good season. Of course if we are able to win the final it will become a wonderful season.
“For me, at the beginning of the season it was very difficult for me to understand my players – to understand the mentality.
“But after a very difficult month in January they started to change – or probably I changed, I don’t know.
“At this moment I love them because I have 20-22 wonderful men – wonderful players. I am really very happy with them.”
On whether this is his biggest game
“I don’t know. The feeling of a coach and the media is different. This match, for the media, is the most important of my life. But probably not for me. I don’t know.
“I will probably only be able to answer tomorrow. I will be able to tell you my feeling, not at the moment.”
On having Eden Hazard
“It’s a pleasure during the match. Sometimes during training it is a problem! But during the match it is a problem of course.
“You know very well that Eden is one of the most important players in Europe and the world. I think he can improve. He has to try to become the best in Europe. He can become the best player in Europe and the world.”
On what he means by “a problem”
“It’s a problem because he is a talent and during training sometimes it’s boring because for him everything is really very easy.”
On whether Olivier Giroud will start
“I need to consider him. He played very well in the Europa League and scored a lot of goals.
“In this competition, Olivier has been very important for us. Of course I have to decide. I will decide tomorrow. But I have to consider him.”
On many fans being unable to attend the final
“I don’t know what to say about the problems. You have to ask Uefa and the clubs.
“I am really very disappointed. We do this job for this kind of match and hope to see our fans here.
“I can only say that we will try to win. We will try to win for us and also for them.”
