Hull City vs. Chelsea: Liam Rosenior revelation made by former Tigers star ahead of FA Cup tie

A former teammate of Liam Rosenior has revealed that the Chelsea head coach turned down playing Mario Kart to watch Barcelona and Real Madrid during his time at Hull City.

On Friday night, Rosenior makes his first return to the MKM Stadium in the opposite dugout since being sacked as Tigers boss in May 2024.

Hull are playing host to Chelsea in the FA Cup fourth round, Rosenior having acknowledged earlier this week that he will find the experience "emotional".

Rosenior has been forced to make the rapid step up to life at Chelsea after previous spells with Hull and French club Strasbourg.

Nevertheless, speaking in an interview with The Guardian, former Hull teammate James Chester has suggested that managing a high-profile team has been long in the making.

© Imago / Antonio Balasco

'Rosenior turned down Mario Kart for Barcelona games'

Chester spent four years between 2011 and 2015 playing alongside Rosenior at Hull, the pair most notably starting an FA Cup final against Arsenal in 2014.

The former centre-back has revealed that Rosenior used to spend the journey to many away games taking an interest in the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid, rather than playing Mario Kart.

He said: "He really loved the tactical side of football and how teams played in possession and how different teams played different formations.

“Generally on a bus to an away game we’d be messing around playing Mario Kart and Liam would be sat watching games from Barcelona, Real Madrid and other big clubs on his laptop and studying how they played and things like that.

"That’s the first time I’d ever come across that."

© Imago / Mark Pain

Will Rosenior rotate against Hull?

Rosenior has hinted that he will opt against mass rotation for Chelsea's trip to East Yorkshire to face Hull.

Nevertheless, he has admitted that he is giving consideration to handing first Chelsea starts to two different players.