Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has revealed that Tiemoue Bakayoko's yellow card led to his early withdrawal from the FA Cup quarter-final clash with Leicester City.
Bakayoko has so far failed to live up to his £40m price-tag and on social media on Sunday afternoon, it was speculated that Conte had been unhappy with the French international's first-half performance after he was substituted at the break.
However, Conte has claimed that he did not want to take any risks over a potential sending-off, with the West Londoners looking to defend a lead after the restart.
At a press conference, the 48-year-old told reporters: "I think it was a decision because he took a yellow card and, as you know very well, we are talking about a player with great physicality.
"In a game like this, you have to prevent and try to avoid a second yellow card. Only for this reason I decided to change him after the first half."
Chelsea eventually recorded a 2-1 victory in the East Midlands courtesy of Pedro's extra-time header.
Darren Plant
