My team lost, but I’m laughing… After an ‘8-minute defeat’, the coach of the opposing team ‘befriended with a smile’

Hakim Ziyech’s heart flew far away. Even though his team was defeated, he was caught laughing and talking with his coach Eric Ten Haag after the game.스포츠토토

Chelsea lost 1-4 to Manchester United in the 2022-23 season English Premier League (EPL) Round 32 held at Old Trafford in Manchester, England at 4:00 am (Korean time) on the 26th (Korean time). Chelsea stayed in 12th place in the league (43 points) and had to watch their opponent advance to the UEFA Champions League (UCL).

It was a disastrous performance. Chelsea consecrated the victory to Manchester United by revealing problems on both sides of the air and defense due to repeated chronic weak organizational skills this season. In the 33rd minute of the second half, Wesley Popana gave the ball to Bruno Fernandez with a pass miss, and the scene where Marcus Rashford scored the key goal was like a summary of this game.

Still, I did it to save face. In the 44th minute of the second half, Joao Felix drove the ball from outside the half-line into the United camp and split the net with a bold shot on the other side with the defense in front.

Ziyech also accidentally earned help. Ziyech was the last player to pass the ball before Felix caught it. Of course, it is true that Ziyech’s one-touch conversion pass was accurate and sharp, but it was more appropriate to say that he received an assist.

To Ziyech, those metrics didn’t matter. He didn’t even care if his team lost. After the game, he went to coach Ten Hag, who had been coached at Ajax, and had a conversation with a smile. It was not appropriate for a player belonging to a team that suffered a crushing defeat by 3 goals to do.

For good reason. Ziyech was almost certain to leave the team last winter. At the time, he had fully agreed on a loan contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). However, due to a document error at Chelsea, the final deadline was missed, and Ziyech had no choice but to stay with the team crying and eating mustard.

At Chelsea, he was still on the bench. Ziyech has played in 24 games in all competitions this season, but has only started 9 of them. There were many cases where he was benched or even excluded from the list after the transfer to PSG failed.

Ziyech’s current contract expires in June 2025. However, it is likely that he will leave the team for the upcoming summer. Already, Ziyech’s heart is not in Stamford Bridge, and the small talk with Ten Hagh is just an episode to prove this.