Vincent Kompany has revealed Manchester City were delighted Kepa Arrizabalaga refused to come off for Willy Caballero because he’s great at saving penalties.
Kepa clashed with Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri at the end of the Carabao Cup final after he defied his decision to make way for Caballero.
Kepa had gone down with what looked like cramp moments before the end of extra time, and Sarri wanted to switch things up in goal.
But Chelsea’s £70million keeper decided he wasn’t coming off and instead argued with his boss until the Italian backed down and cancelled the substitution.
Manchester City went on to win the shoot-out and the Carabao Cup for a second consecutive season.
Speaking after the game, Citizens captain Kompany was asked for his thoughts on the sensational row between manager and player.
Kompany said: “I know how good Willy Caballero is on penalties, last time we won it he won it for us so I didn’t want him to come on! It didn’t happen in the end.
“Of course I have never seen it, I wish I could do it whenever I get subbed.
“In the end we had that little bit more confidence. Other than [Eden] Hazard we were ready to win it on penalties.”
Kepa played down the incident after the final, claiming in a statement the situation was nothing more than a misunderstanding.
He wrote: “In no moment was it my intention to disobey, or anything like that with the boss. Just that it was misunderstood, because I had been attended to by the medics twice, and he thought that I wasn’t in condition to continue.
“It was two or three minutes of confusion until the medics got to the bench, and they explained everything well. This was nothing to do with the problems I had this week, with [hamstring] it wasn’t that.
“And, well, it was misunderstood. Because he thought I couldn’t continue, and – fundamentally – I was trying to say that physically I was fine.
“I thought the bench felt I couldn’t continue, because it was the second time I’d gone to ground. It was extra-time. We’d run a lot so [going to ground] was also a way of stopping the match.
“We’d had a few moments suffering, defending, so it was to stop the match and for the team to draw breath and not a moment where I was saying I couldn’t continue. I know everyone is talking a lot about this, but it’s my opinion, how I lived it from inside.”