The FA charge Maurizio Sarri for misconduct in Burnley draw

Wheels of “justice” at The FA are slowly turning, and the first charge from the Chelsea vs. Burnley match has been announced — at least I’m assuming it’s the first, as there should be several.

Rather amusingly, it’s a charge for Chelsea head coach Maurizio Sarri, for misconduct relating to his behavior in added-on time, which probably relates to his sending off by referee Kevin Friend and fourth official Roger East.

Maurizio Sarri has been charged with misconduct in relation to his behaviour in the 94th minute of Monday’s [22/04/2019] Premier League fixture between Chelsea and Burnley.

The Chelsea manager has until 18:00 on Friday [26/04/2019] to provide a response.

-source: The FA

I suppose that’s a fairly standard charge, although Sarri assistant Gianfranco Zola claimed that it was a bit of a misunderstanding that led to the incident.

“Maurizio has been sent off while he was trying to help Kevin, to tell our players to get into position. Kevin misinterpreted that and sent him off so he is very unhappy about it.”

-Gianfranco Zola; source: Chelsea FC

That may or may not be true — and if so, will certainly form the basis of a potential appeal — but Sarri had been wandering out of his technical area all game and got into a verbal altercation with the Burnley bench.

Of course, the reason for the altercation was that Sarri was at the receiving end of some xenophobic abuse by multiple members of the visiting staff. That incident, as well as the physical altercation that followed between the two benches is still under investigation. The FA should (“should”) be announcing further charges at some point in the near future.