Mauricio Pochettino clearly believes there's no such thing as a friendly after berating the referee in his first match as Chelsea manager.
Former Tottenham and PSG boss Pochettino took charge of the Blues for the first time on Wednesday in their opening warm-up game against Wrexham in the pre-season Florida Cup.
It was a successful outing for the London club, who ran out comfortable 5-0 winners – with several players making their debuts.
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Academy graduate Ian Maatsen opened the scoring after just three minutes after being set up by new signing Nicolas Jackson.
The Dutchman then grabbed his second with a superb finish shortly before the half-time interval.
Conor Gallagher, new signing Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwell added goals for Chelsea after the break to seal victory for the Premier League club.
But it was something Pochettino did in the first half that caught the eye of most Chelsea supporters.
With his team looking to score a third shortly before the break, Pochettino was left incensed when the referee blew his whistle for half-time – ending a promising attack.
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Pochettino ran onto the pitch to remonstrate with the official, to the delight of Chelsea supporters on social media.
"First preseason friendly and Pochettino's already beefing the referee. I'm sold, he's proper Chels," tweeted one fan.
Another added: "Pochettino's already having ago at the referee in a friendly. That's what I'm talking about."
While a third wrote: "They need to call [Graham] Potter and sack him again. He would've said 'that's life'."
It is not the first time Pochettino has clashed with an official, with the former Spurs boss charged by the FA in 2019 for confronting Mike Dean on the pitch at Turf Moor following a defeat to Burnley.
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Speaking after Chelsea's win, Pochettino said he was happy with the performance but expected to see an improvement in their next pre-season match against Brighton on Sunday.
"Like always after a pre-season game, I'm happy because of the attitude," said Pochettino. "But, of course, it is time to improve.
"I think it is part of the process in this period to learn in the way we want to play and, of course, build the physical condition also. I am happy with the performance.
"I think the most important thing now is to get positive feelings and to start to play again after the holidays. All the players came in at different levels and now it is about putting them all at similar levels to try to compete for the season."
Featured Image Credit: Getty & Chelsea FCTopics: Chelsea, Football, Mauricio Pochettino, Premier League, Wrexham, Fan Reactions
