Noni Madueke has explained why he went straight down the tunnel after being substituted in the second half of last Sunday’s draw with Arsenal.
The Blues battled to a hard earned point against the Gunners thanks to Pedro Neto’s equaliser which saw them move into third in the league.
Despite the Blues putting in a good performance a lot of the post match conversation centred around Madueke’s actions after being substituted.
Madueke explains why he went down the tunnel against Arsenal
Madeueke has started every league game under Enzo Maresca, apart from on the opening day against Manchester City.
The winger has been a mainstay in the Chelsea side and has scored four goals in ten league appearances, although his performances have dropped off in recent weeks.
The England international didn’t have the best game against Arsenal and failed to track back in the build-up to Gabriel Martinelli’s goal.
Madueke was taken off in the second half and was replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk, but instead of taking his place on the bench he went straight down the tunnel.
This was inevitably picked up by the media, but Maresca played down the incident when asked about it after the game.Madueke has come in for a lot of criticism for his actions, and Rio Ferdinand labelled the 22-year-old as disrespectful.
However, the winger has now had his say on the matter and revealed a very simple reason as to why he went down the tunnel.
“I literally went down the tunnel to go to the toilet and I came back 30 seconds later,” he said as quoted by Mail Sport.
“If you watch a lot of games when I come off, I always going straight down the tunnel to go to the toilet. It is nothing major at all.”
There’s no reason to think Madueke is lying about this and it goes to show how quickly things can spread if they aren’t addressed properly.
Madueke’s place in the side is currently under threat with Pedro Neto playing very well and Jadon Sancho to come back, so it will be interesting to see what selections Maresca makes in the wide areas after the international break.