Marcos Alonso has opened up about a certain incident at West Bromwich Albion, which eventually led to a falling out with then-Chelsea manager Frank Lampard.
Since joining from Fiorentina, Marcos Alonso has had a roller-coaster career at Chelsea. The Spanish full-back has achieved undoubted success at Stamford Bridge but has also been involved in a fair few incidents that threatened to derail his stint at the club.
Alonso has forced his way into Thomas Tuchel’s plans in the past year, helping the club win the UEFA Champions League and the Club World Cup. He has not been the undisputed first-choice left wing-back for the Chelsea boss, but Ben Chilwell’s season-ending injury has boosted his playing time.
While his presence is somewhat assured in the team, the full-back’s position at the club has been far from assured. During Frank Lampard’s reign at Stamford Bridge, the duo had an infamous fallout after a game with West Bromwich Albion. After that match, Alonso barely featured until the head coach was sacked.
After a dismal performance at the Hawthorns, Lampard decided to haul Alonso off at half-time. The Spaniard then spent the rest of the game in the team’s coach, which infuriated the manager even more, although Lampard never spoke about the incident to the press.
Now, Alonso has opened up on the incident that almost threatened to derail his Chelsea career. He spoke about the incident in detail in an interview in Abu Dhabi, where he and his teammates has been present for the FIFA Club World Cup, with his comments about the incident appearing on football.london.
Alonso said, “I watched the game upstairs and with five minutes to go, they [West Brom security] told me I cannot be here, so I went downstairs to the changing room. Then, when the referee blew the whistle, I went to the coach before the team got back.”
“It was not with any bad intention that I wanted to leave, but I had a shower at halftime already; I had a shower upstairs, and then I just went. I was not happy, of course, with how the game went and everything, but it was not any intention to do that. I spoke to my teammates straight after. If someone felt offended or something, everyone was OK. You created the story, but it was nothing like this.”
The unpleasant incident is behind everyone now, with Alonso, in particular, enjoying a decent enough time in the first-team setup since then. But with Chelsea reportedly in the market for a left-back, Alonso will need to continue putting in improved performances to be assured of his position.