Marco Ianni finds himself in Chelsea’s bad books for his celebration which sparked a fracas in the dugout in injury time of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester United.
Chelsea are furious with the assistant team coach for rubbing Ross Barkley’s late equaliser in Jose Mourinho’s face at Stamford Bridge, provoking the United boss into attempting to confront him in the tunnel.
The Telegraph reports that the club is none too happy about Ianni’s behaviour, with manager Maurizio Sarri refusing to rule out further punishment.
Ianni apologised to Mourinho shortly after the full-time whistle and the apology was accepted by the visiting manager, who admitted that “I also made mistakes in football matches and I will make more, so when he came to me after the game to apologise I accepted his apologies and nothing more to say.”
After shaking hands following the dramatic draw, Sarri had a long discussion with Mourinho before instructing Ianni to make things right and own up to his error in judgement.
Pot, meet kettle https://t.co/X2zx7PlVzJ
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) October 20, 2018
“I spoke with Jose afterwards and realised we were wrong,” Sarri said. “I spoke with my staff, and then [Ianni] agreed to speak to Mourinho and say sorry. Now I think it’s finished. We made a mistake. We were in the wrong on the situation.”
As Mourinho made his way back to the dressing room after the full-time whistle, he responded to the taunts from Chelsea fans by reminding them of the number of Premier League titles he won in his time as Blues boss.
A closer look! 🧐
It seems @ChelseaFC assistant coach Marco Ianni incensed Mourinho when he celebrated in his face following the equaliser! 😳
Match report: https://t.co/DSbgFX9jYY pic.twitter.com/3PvQx1o9sE
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) October 20, 2018
The club is well aware of what Mourinho achieved at Stamford Bridge and those behind the scenes are said to be very embarrassed by the behaviour of Ianni towards the man who delivered Chelsea’s first domestic title in 50 years.
Sarri was also asked whether Ianni would be facing disciplinary measures but the current Chelsea boss could not confirm.
He said: “I don’t know at the moment, I want to speak to him after the game. But I have that situation immediately. So of course, I have to speak [to him]. I want to be sure he understands it was a big mistake.”
