Sarri on Hazard injury, Chelsea’s ‘big problem’ and his disappointment at Arsenal beating Napoli
A rundown of what Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri had to say after the Europa League quarter-final win against Slavia Prague.
On Chelsea’s second-half wobble
“We started very badly in the second half. We need a solution.
“We need to solve this problem, because in the last 10 matches we started like in this match, so it’s a big problem.
“Probably at the end of the first half we thought that we were qualified. But against these opponents, it wasn’t true.
“I have never seen something like that in the last 20 years. We did something wrong in the second half in the first 10-15 minutes.
“But of course we are happy, because to get in a European semi-final is not very easy.”
“At half-time I told them that the target was to start with the same application and with the same attention, but we didn’t do it.”
On the cause of the problem
“I don’t know. It’s not easy to understand, otherwise we could solve the problem very easily. It’s very difficult to understand why.
“Probably at the end of the first half, when we have lowered the application, we are not able to restart. But it’s a problem.”
“They had the possibility to have training. We played match number 54 of the season and we will finish with 60, 61, 62 matches. So for us it is impossible to have training. We have time only to prepare matches.
“Probably they have played only 35-40 matches. So they have time to have training and sometimes the reason is very easy; it’s only DNA. It’s only the characteristic of the player.”
On whether his half-time team talks are the problem
(Laughing) “I can try without going in the dressing room at half-time. I can try to solve the problem like this.”
On Eden Hazard coming off
“Nothing serious I hope, and I think. It’s only a knock. It’s a strong knock, but I think we can recover him for the next match (against Burnley) on Monday.”
On Chelsea’s Europa League chances
“To win the competition will be very difficult of course. We need to think about the semi-final and need to study our opponents very well because we want to get to the final.
“We want to win the competition of course, but we know very well that it will be difficult. Eintracht is a great team with a wonderful striker in (Luka) Jovic. And then in the other semi-final there are two very good teams (Arsenal and Valencia).
“It is important to get to the final. But this time (unlike with the Carabao Cup), I don’t want to (only) play the final, I want to win the final.”
On Arsenal beating Napoli
“I am not happy that Napoli is out, because if the final were Chelsea against Napoli I am sure that at the end of the match I am really very happy. So I am unhappy with Naples out.”
