Enzo Maresca 'Banned' From Sky Sports Interview Due to Bizarre Premier League Rule
Enzo Maresca was banned from conducting interviews after Chelsea's dramatic late win over Liverpool due to a bizarre rule.
Stamford Bridge was the scene of drama in injury time as Chelsea grabbed three points at the death against the Premier League champions.
The hosts went ahead thanks to an incredible strike from Moises Caicedo as they went in 1-0 at half-time.
Liverpool got back on level terms after the break thanks to a close range finish from Cody Gakpo.
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It looked like the spoils were due to be shared, but Estevao Willian netted a 96th minute winner as Stamford Bridge erupted.
Liverpool have now lost three games in the space of a week - the first time they have had a trio of successive losses under Arne Slot - following defeats against Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
Liverpool boss Slot said: "Another disappointing loss. That's clear. Another game similar to the Palace game, although the game was completely different because the playing style of both teams are completely different.
"But not similar to the Palace game where in the first half I think we played not our best football but still were able to create three big chances.
"And the second-half performance, like in Palace, I liked, we've created more than enough chances to score more than one goal – last week and today.
"And in the last 10 minutes, it was an end-to-end game, both teams could have won it. We didn't and Chelsea did."
The late winner prompted Chelsea boss Maresca to sprint down the touchline to celebrate with his players.
But it prompted a second yellow card for the Italian from referee Anthony Taylor, meaning the Chelsea boss was subsequently sent off.
It meant that Maresca was banned from conducting any post-match media duties, even to in-house club media.
It follows rules which was put in place a couple of seasons ago in the Premier League and EFL which means managers who are sent off during a game are not allowed to conduct post-match interviews and press conferences.
Therefore, it meant Chelsea's assistant head coach Willy Caballero had to speak after the game and he passed on Maresca's reaction.
Speaking in the post-match press conference, he said: "He’s OK, he's OK. He was so happy after the game.
"Unfortunately, he cannot be here because of the card, but he was so happy and he wanted me to do the press conference, but also he wanted me to praise the players because of the effort that they've done today.
"We believe that we deserve the victory after the chances that we created and how we played. Thanks to football and thanks for the effort of the players, we scored in the last seconds and we got the three points today.
"I believe it's because not just this week, but a few weeks that we've been holding our emotions because the last couple of games we've been playing well, but we finished a few games with ten players and we couldn't win the game.
"Today was really important, but at the same time we finished with a back four that is not usual, four full-backs. The players did it really well, the players on the bench were ready to go and ready to play. They did a really good effort, they played in different positions."
Topics: Chelsea, Enzo Maresca, Liverpool, Premier League, Arne Slot
John McDougall