so if they thought messi was injured and the same situation happened you,s expect barca to drop messi for 5 games
WAIT FOR IT

Here's the video for those wanting another good laugh :

https://www.youtube.com/
watch?reload=9&v=GZ-1G_bfKbs

Chelsea v Spurs Live on Wednesday... who starts as Chelsea's #1?

IMO Kepa has to start if Sarri want's to save face after what he's told the media. Drop him and he's admitting that he was royally fecked!

Talk about Catch 22... love it!

Sarri :

"It was a big misunderstanding because I understood the keeper had cramp and was unable to go to penalties. But it was not cramp and he could go to the penalties.

"I needed to return [down the tunnel] to be quiet."

Apparently it wasn't cramp so I wonder what Kepa's "injury" was that required treatment

So why was Sarri furious when the keeper didn't come off when asked? It does raise an interesting question. If a manager tells the fourth official that he wishes to make a substitution, can the player on the pitch ignore the decision or can the ref send him off?

I was wrong in my earlier post.  I've just read an article in The Times by ex-ref Peter Walton which covers rule 3 "if a player who is to be replaced refuses to leave the field, then play continues".  The referee therefore has no power to send the keeper off.

think its getting overblown now,though funny at the time
it was the 2nd time keeper had gone down and we now no he was milking it both times 2nd time happy to go to pens ,chance to be a hero
physio obviously doesn't think he,s milking it or keeper doesn't make it clear to him so reports to sari he has to come off
if he,s not injured,your not going to be desperate to replace your 60 mill keeper with cab, instead of all the hand signals,thumbs up from keeper why didn't he just go to the sideline to tell sari he was fit to carry on, physio,keeper,sarri probably all speak different languages

Of course the lads(David Luiz and co)  won't admit it publicly but they must be absolutely chuffed.  "Look our work here is done.  We've spawned another selfish POS.  Our legacy will continue even when we're gone" type vibe.

ian Merseyside, thanks. I did wonder if the ref. or fourth official had any power to make a player leave the field. Managers are given far too much respect on the whole and this incident shows they can only operate with the consent of the players as Merino found out. Most players won't defy them as they would then be fined or left out of the team (if the board back the manager) but once a game starts, players should be able to have the final say.