Assistant manager who left Chelsea in 2019 spotted at Wembley during Manchester City defeat

Former Chelsea player and assistant manager during Maurizio Sarri’s era, Gianfranco Zola was at Wembley to witness the Blues play well, but ultimately lose to Manchester City. 

Zola scored 59 goals in 229 appearances for the west London club during a brilliant career and returned to work as assistant manager in the one season they won the Europa League under Italian Sarri. 

He was part of a host of Chelsea legends who were at Wembley as the 2021 Champions league winners self-inflicted another painful defeat on themselves to crash out of the FA Cup at the semi-final stage. They created the best chances but it came down to finishing and Manchester City were simply better with Bernardo Silva scoring the all-important goal late in the same. 

Striker Nicolas Jackson missed a host of chances, while left-back Ben Chilwell failed to set up Raheem Sterling when the forward would just have had to direct the ball into the net for the equalising goal. 

In the end, they were made to pay for their wastefulness in front of goal and will now have to respond against Arsenal on Tuesday in the league to keep their hopes alive. 

What Chelsea manager Pochettino said after

Chelsea manager Pochettino could not hide his frustration after the game, revealing his team deserved what they got having failed to take the chances which came their way. 

He told reporters after the game at Wembley:“Yeah, but in football the most important thing is to be clinical and to not concede. We competed well, I cannot say we were the better side because that in football is difficult to measure. 

“The most important thing is we competed. Competing in this way, we need to take positives from the game. This type of group of players needs this type of moment in games. 

“Now it’s about to take the positive things and try to build in the things that we need, the areas we need to improve. Now is the time to finish the season in the best way and then to speak about how we can be better next season.”

Pochettino is still pursuing his first trophy in England and when the emotions settle, he’ll view this one as a missed opportunity.