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Chelsea players hold hour-long crisis talks with Maurizio Sarri's fate likely to be linked to Europa League success
Maurizio Sarri has revealed Chelsea’s players held hour-long crisis talks after their humiliation at Manchester City, as the club bid to save their season from imploding.
Sarri is under mounting pressure ahead of a crucial fortnight in which his future as Chelsea manager could be ultimately decided, starting with tonight’s Europa League tie with Malmo.
Chelsea’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League could rest on their European campaign and a shock defeat to the Swedish minnows over two legs would only increase the sense of a campaign unravelling.
Bruce Buck, the Chelsea chairman, even made a rare appearance at Sarri’s press conference to preview the first leg as the Italian reflected on the fallout from the 6-0 battering at the Etihad Stadium: the club’s worst defeat since 1991.
“It has not been too easy, of course. But I think, after a match like Manchester City, it is normal,” Sarri said. “We talked all together for one hour the day after the match. I think that it’s better to work, better to react on the pitch.
“It’s not easy to play on Thursday after a 6-0, but we have to play and we have to play well. We want to win. In my opinion, the last game was not a problem of motivation. We were not able to react to the first difficulty during the match because, in the first four or five minutes, we started well.
“Then, after the first goal, we were not able to react. So, the problem is different. But it’s always a mind problem, a mental problem, so we need to solve them.”
Sarri’s position at Chelsea was placed into sharper focus after Sunday’s defeat when he was quoted by Italian media as saying he “never really” speaks to Roman Abramovich, the club’s owner.
Abramovich is not thought to have attended a match for several months, but Sarri moved to defuse a potential storm by claiming he was happy talking to club director Marina Granovskaia.
“I never said ‘never’ [speak to Abramovich]. It depends on the president, I think. Not very often, but not never.
“Have I spoken to him since taking the job? Yes of course, [but] not in the past three weeks.
“Is it a problem? No, I’d like to speak to somebody at the club, not necessarily with the owner. I usually speak with Marina, and that is enough.”
Chelsea’s tie at the Malmo Stadion begins a crucial sequence of fixtures, followed by Manchester United in the FA Cup, Malmo in the second leg, Manchester City in the final of the Carabao Cup and Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Feb 27.
With Chelsea’s top-four hopes now in doubt after dropping into sixth place, The Daily Telegraph understands Sarri is under pressure to win the Europa League.
He said: “Tomorrow is the most important. We need to have short-term targets. Tomorrow, the target is to qualify or have a good result.
“On Monday, the target will be to get into the quarter-finals. Then to win the League Cup. It’s very strange to say it after a 6-0, but we want to win. We need short-term targets and then a dream in the long-term.”
Ruben Loftus-Cheek did not travel to Sweden because of a back problem, while defender Marcos Alonso has been rested.
Malmo, under the guidance of former Wigan and Brentford manager Uwe Rosler, have made it out of the group stages of the Europa League for the first time in the competition’s rebranded format.
It would be a huge shock if Malmo were to beat Chelsea, who reached the knockout stages by winning five and drawing on of their six group games.
Chelsea winger Pedro has demanded a swift response after Sunday’s shambles against the Premier League champions.
“It’s been a difficult week, probably the worst of the season. I have never lost 6-0 before in my career, but that is in the past. The mentality in the team is good,” he said.
“The most important thing is to recover our best feeling. This is an opportunity for us, a new competition. This changes the mentality so quickly if we win.”