It was undoubtedly one of the most bizarre and cringey things to watch when Kepa refused to be substituted in the Carabao cup final, while Maurizio Sarri started to pace and fume on the touchline. It turns out all he needed was a giant Russian in his side to install some discipline.
In my list of footballers I really wouldn’t want to fight, Artem Dzyuba is right up there. He’s 6″4, unbelievably strong and doesn’t look like anything would scare him.
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His Zenit teammate got a glimpse of his aggression today after trying to refuse to come off. It looked like Sardar Azmoun was ready to throw a strop before his captain stepped in.
The combination of the anger in Dzyuba’s eyes, picking him up with a pretty ferocious bear hug and giving him a “gentle” throw in the direction of the touchline seemed to do the trick:
Sardar Azmoun did not want to come off the pitch when subbed today – teammate Artem Dzyuba stepped in to stop him getting in any trouble and give him a helping hand! @fczenit_en ? pic.twitter.com/jgY0Oha8yn
— Russian Football News (@RusFootballNews) September 13, 2019
So it turns out it’s a fairly simple blueprint for managers to follow if they want to avoid this sort of situation happening in the future. Just get someone terrifying in the side to back up your instructions and everyone will follow.
