Chelsea star hits back at Rio Ferdinand over 'disrespectful' Arsenal incident as explanation given

Noni Madueke has explained the reason he walked straight down the tunnel after being substituted against Arsenal, with the Chelsea man playing down the incident.

The winger looked to be frustrated when he was substituted in the second half of the 1-1 draw at the weekend. Cameras caught the Chelsea man walking straight down the tunnel at Stamford Bridge after being replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk.

That reaction was branded as ‘disrespectful’ by pundit Rio Ferdinand. The former defender took to social media saying that he should have been given a ‘two-week fine.’

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Ferdinand said: “It’s disrespectful to your team-mates. I think the manager protecting him is mad, that’s a two-week fine!”

However, Madueke has now explained his actions and said that it’s actually a regular occurrence when he’s taken off the pitch. “I literally went down the tunnel to go to the toilet and I came back 30 seconds later,” he said while on international duty with England.

“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.”

The incident was also played down by Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca after the game. “The problem is when you change a player, they are never happy,” he said in his post-match press conference .

“Probably the only way to be happy is after the Wolves game where he scored a hat-trick and we changed him, so he was happy. It's not only about Noni, it's about all the players.

“It's a good thing because they want to be there until the end. But in that moment, we thought in different ways, probably Pedro with Timber could be a little bit more aggressive - and also with Misha. So it was a tactical decision, no more than that.”

Following the game against Arsenal, Madueke joined up with Lee Carlsey’s England squad. The winger was named in the starting lineup for the crucial Nations League clash against Greece on Thursday and provided an assist for the opening goal.

He will now look to impress again when England are back in action on Sunday evening. The Three Lions know that a win will guarantee them top place in the group and promotion back to League A.

Following that match, Madueke will return to Chelsea ahead of the Premier League game against Leicester City. The Blues travel to the King Power Stadium for the 12.30pm kick-off on Saturday, 23 November

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