daniel chigunwe
BELFAST. — Kepa Arrizabalaga was the unlikely hero as Chelsea started the new season by beating Villarreal 6-5 on penalties to win the Uefa Super Cup in Belfast on Wednesday night.
The match had ended in a 1-1 draw.
The Spaniard, who has lost his place as number one since joining the club for a world record fee for a goalkeeper in 2018, was introduced late in extra-time as a substitute for the shoot-out by Thomas Tuchel.
Kepa famously refused to be replaced by former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri in a League Cup final defeat to Manchester City two years ago.
But this time he rewarded his manager’s faith with saves from Aissa Mandi and Raul Albiol.
“This was not spontaneous,” Tuchel said of Kepa’s introduction. “We talked about it with the goalkeepers before my first cup game against Barnsley.
“We had some statistics that we prepared and they showed that Willy Caballero is the best in penalty defending and they analysed like a thousand penalties from Willy.
“Second best was Kepa and third best was Edou.
“The analysis and goalkeepers coaches introduced me to the data, we spoke to all three goalkeepers very open and told them this can happen in knock-out games.
“If we have a change left that we take this change not for personal reasons but to help the team, to improve the chances as we have this proof off statistic. “It’s fantastic Edou accepts it. He puts his ego to one side when we take this decision and he is aware why we do this, this is the key. He knows it’s not a sudden idea of the manager.
“There is proof that Kepa is better in this discipline and these guys are team players. I’m happy for Kepa and Edou to have a goalkeeper like this who is not too proud to step out of the field and happy to take this for the team.”
Kepa said: “It’s not a normal situation but I was ready because I knew that this can happen and I tried to be ready mentally and physically.” — AFP.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter