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Mauricio Pochettino defends 'amazing' Raheem Sterling after boos, says Chelsea fans need to 'trust' his decisions

Raj Mahil

Updated 17/03/2024 at 18:45 GMT

Chelsea booked their FA Cup semi-final spot with a win over Leicester City, but as is ever the case at Stamford Bridge, it wasn't without incident. Raheem Sterling missed a first-half penalty and was subsequently booed by his own fans. Mauricio Pochettino insists he "respects their opinion" but has called for their "trust" in the Blues' ongoing project. Chelsea won the match 4-2.

Pochettino admits his future at Chelsea is ‘not in my hands’ – ‘Up to them to trust or not’

Mauricio Pochettino urged Chelsea fans to "trust" in his decisions and "support" Raheem Sterling, who was booed after missing a penalty in a 4-2 FA Cup quarter-final win over Leicester.
Chelsea continued their fine tradition of making the final four of the FA Cup, with a sixth appearance in the last eight seasons coming via a dramatic victory at Stamford Bridge.
Marc Cucurella tapped in at the back post for his first Chelsea goal, before Cole Palmer made it 2-0. Axel Disasi then scored an own goal, getting his angles all wrong as he fired into an open net from midway inside his own half.
Stephy Mavididi equalised with a wonderful strike creeping inside the post after a couple of stepovers, but then the turning point of the tie arrived as Callum Doyle was sent off for denying Chelsea on the break as the last man. Beautiful goals from Carney Chukwuemeka and Noni Madueke followed to seal a home victory.
With the score at 1-0, Sterling had squandered the opportunity to double Chelsea's lead when he saw a penalty saved by Jakub Stolarczyk.
Sterling stepped up to the spot ahead of regular penalty taker Palmer, who has a 100% record across his five penalties.
The 29-year-old Sterling, conversely, now has more spot-kick failures than successes across his career and the last time he scored a penalty was in 2021, for Manchester City against Leicester.
Reflecting on the decision for Sterling to take the penalty, Pochettino said in his post-game press conference: "Cole can miss, Raheem can miss, for me, the decision is theirs and I want to always support the decision of my players on the pitch."
Sterling appeared to be on the end of jeers from home fans, who chanted "get him off" during the second half and also booed the manager for substituting Mykhailo Mudryk rather than Sterling.
"The feelings weren't good for him but I am going to support him," said Pochettino.
"He has an unbelievable CV. Playing for big teams, an experienced player. Today he missed a penalty and some chances but we are going to support."
Pochettino also told the BBC: "We need to support him, he's an amazing player. He has more than 10 years experience in the Premier League. Of course I think the contribution was good. He was a little bit unlucky with some actions where he should have scored.
"But we are a team and we need to be there for everyone. Fans are entitled to show their emotion. For us we try to emphasise with our fans not to criticise. They want the best for our team and players.
"But we are in a project. We need support and to really believe. We are trying to build something. We are in a process to build the team. I know really well how to manage.
"What the fans want is to win the game and that we achieved. What the fans want is to go to Wembley and that we achieved.
"They need to trust me to manage in the way I think is the best way for the club. We need to respect their opinion as much as they need to respect my decision."
Sterling bounced back from the penalty miss to tee up Palmer's goal soon after, breaking down the left and crossing in to his former Man City teammate. That marked the 29-year-old's fourth goal contribution across five FA Cup games this term - far outpacing his Premier League return of 12 in 25.
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