Eden Hazard said he “does not care” about criticism from boss Maurizio Sarri after helping Chelsea beat Spurs to reach the Carabao Cup final.
The Belgium forward put the Blues 2-1 up on aggregate as they overturned a first-leg deficit, although they needed penalties to beat Spurs following Fernando Llorente’s goal.
Sarri said Hazard “has to do more” earlier in the week. After the game, Hazard said: “It doesn’t matter what the manager said.”
Chelsea will play Manchester City in the Wembley final on Sunday, 24 February. Spurs had won the first leg 1-0 at home but N’Golo Kante and Hazard goals put Chelsea ahead overall before Llorente’s header forced a shootout, which the Blues won 4-2.
In the build-up to the game, Sarri had also said: “I prefer him [Hazard] when he speaks with his feet.
“The potential is higher than the performances, I think. He has to respect, first of all, himself.”
When Hazard was asked about Sarri’s comments, he told Sky Sports: “I don’t care. I just play my football. I just want to do my best for this team.”
Sarri is the fourth Chelsea manager to reach the League Cup final in his first season in charge.
After last weekend’s 2-0 defeat by Arsenal, Italian Sarri said he was “angry” and his players “lacked determination”.
But after the win over Spurs, he said: “I didn’t attack my players. I said only that we had a problem. The problem was the motivation. We reacted very well in this match. Now we have to show continuity.
“Hazard was very good, especially for 60-65 minutes. Wonderful.
“I was very happy with the performance of the team. We reacted very well. The players had a very good level of determination so I was very happy with the level of performance. I think that in 180 minutes in the two matches we deserved to go to the final.”
Neither Sarri, nor Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, have ever won a major trophy in their managerial career.
Sarri, 60, managed 17 Italian teams – mostly smaller clubs – before an impressive, albeit trophy-less, three seasons with Napoli.
“If you say that I have never won anything at this level you are right, but now I’m in Chelsea, so in another way I won,” said Sarri.
“We will try but it’s really very difficult against Manchester City. In my opinion City are the best team in Europe so it will be very difficult.”
The Blues have won 15 major trophies in the 16 years since Roman Abramovich took over as owner.