David Luiz and Azpilicueta analyse the season, want Sarri to stay

Chelsea closed out the season with an emphatic 4-1 victory over Arsenal in the Europa League final, not only ending the year with silverware but also ending Arsenal’s hopes for Champions League football next season.

The post-match celebrations were a treat to watch and the emotions, from the coaching staff to the players, showed how important and satisfying it was to taste success after a grueling roller-coaster of a season. Now, as the dust settles, it will be time to think, rethink, and analyse the season, and decide the best way to move forward.

Maurizio Sarri has been at the centre of all the speculation, and as much as the players will have wanted to ignore it these stories, they can no longer do so. For most of them however, there’s no question. Sarri has lead the team to a great season, and there should be no reason to get rid of him. Captain Dave lays out the basic argument quite well.

“It’s not my choice. Obviously Maurizio is the manager.

”We started the season quite late. In February, March we were in difficulty, we were sixth in the Premier League and everybody thought we were out of the Champions League. We came back, we finished third... lifted the Europa League [and] lost on penalties in the Carabao Cup [final]. I think if you look at the whole season it has been very great.”

- Cesar Azpilicueta; source: Goal

Azpilicueta has seen many managers come and go in his seven years at Stamford Bridge. So has David Luiz, but he’s been Sarri’s number one fan since the very beginning, and that praise has only gotten more lavish in recent weeks.

Last night was no different.

“[Sarri] is a great person, a great guy, a great manager and we finished in the best way for him because we won a trophy in his way. Even after we conceded a goal at 3-1 we continued to play his philosophy and continued to try and score more goals.

“It was the best end of the season for him and he deserved that. Yes [I want him to stay], because he is doing great. He did great during the season even with all the difficulties we had. In life sometimes you have to try to understand who is on the other side.

“Sometimes you need to reflect and analyse a little bit how difficult it was for him to be here today. He trained many, many clubs in the lower divisions. He was doing one job (banker) and then he quit to try a big journey and do something in football. Today he arrived in a big final and to do great like that, of course, there is going to be emotion. He deserved that, it was a fantastic season for him. I think he is doing great. It is for the club to decide that. I am so happy with him.”

- David Luiz; source: Goal

#SarriIN or #SarriOUT, that is the question.