Chelsea’s Caballero backs Arrizabalaga to learn from Wembley error

LONDON: Chelsea’s Willy Caballero has backed fellow goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to learn from his mistake in the League Cup final and said the relationship between the duo was still strong.

Arrizabalaga had defied Sarri’s orders to come off for Caballero at the end of extra time after appearing to be injured during Sunday’s penalty shootout defeat by Manchester City, for which he was fined a week’s wages.

“It was good to have a chat with him,” Caballero told reporters after Wednesday’s 2-0 Premier League win over Tottenham Hotspur, which the Argentine started.

“I think he learned lot from what happened, we learned a lot as a team and as a club. Sometimes these things push players apart, but in this case we are more together than ever.”

Arrizabalaga was benched by Sarri for the Spurs game, which gave Caballero his first league start of the season, and the Italian boss said that it was the “right decision.”

Caballero added there were no hard feelings between him and Arrizabalaga, who became the world’s most expensive goalkeeper when he joined Chelsea for €80 million (RM371 million) last year.

“Top players or experienced players make mistakes because we are human beings, we are people. That’s it,” Caballero said.

“The good result of this is we have found a lot of people near to him to help him. We trained very well the next day to prepare for the game.

“The boss decided to put me in the goal and he (Arrizabalaga) was supporting me in the warmup, so I think we are in good harmony. As keepers we must support each other.”