Sarri defends benching Hazard in Chelsea stalemate

FRANKFURT: Chelsea coach Maurizio Sarri defended his decision to leave Eden Hazard on the bench and said his team “deserved a trophy” after they were held to a 1-1 draw at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final.

Pedro’s first-half equaliser gave Chelsea a potentially crucial away goal after a hard-fought clash at the Commerzbank Arena.

Sarri raised eyebrows with his decision to leave Hazard out of the starting line-up, but he said he had no choice but to rest the Belgian star.

“Eden was on the bench because he has played 10 games in a row,” said Sarri.

“It is impossible for a player to play 70 to 75 matches in a season. Sometimes they need to rest, or at least not to play for 90 minutes.”

“We want to reach the final, and this time I want to win it,” added Sarri, whose team lost the League Cup final against Manchester City earlier this season.

“Three months ago, we were in trouble. Now we are in the top four and in the semi-final, so I think we deserve to win a trophy.”

Sarri said his team had made a “mistake” in the opening 20 minutes as they struggled to deal with a determined Frankfurt in the first half.

Fired on by the home crowd, the hosts caused problems for Chelsea early on before being outclassed for long periods in the second half.

“We started to play after the goal and dominated the game for 70 minutes,” said Sarri.

Frankfurt coach Adi Huetter, meanwhile, said that his team would have to be brave when they travel to Stamford Bridge for the return leg next Thursday.

“Chelsea will obviously be clear favourites, but we are optimistic that we can get something there -everything is possible.” — AFP