Tobi Ijalana
Maurizio Sarri has revealed why he did not feature Eden Hazard in Chelsea Europa League semi-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Pedro Rodriguez scored a crucial away goal for Chelsea as they drew 1-1 with the Bundesliga side on Thursday while Eden Hazard was on bench.
Sarri said: “Then we started to play after 25 minutes and we played very well until the 85th minute and in my opinion. We deserved to win for the number of good opportunities. For 70 minutes, we were in full control of the match.
They (Frankfurt) are very dangerous at home, but they are really very dangerous away.”
Hoping to be in the final, Sarri said the second leg would decide.
” So it depends on the second leg, we have to play at Stamford Bridge, we want the final but we know very well that we have to play a very good match next week.
“We want to go to the final, but we know very well we’ll have to play a very good match next week.”
Speaking about the decision of benching Hazard Sarri added: “Eden was on the bench because in the last period, he played 10 matches in a row. This match was number 59 [for Chelsea] I think, and Hazard also played eight matches with the national team.
“For a player, it is impossible to play 70 to 75 matches in a season and so sometimes, Hazard, like all the other players, needs to rest or not to rest, but to not play for 90 minutes.”
