Antonio Conte masterminds Chelsea Champions League fightback with secret note passed onto the pitch
David Zappacosta delivered the letter from the manager to midfielder Cesc Fabregas who had a read before the ref sent it off
ANTONIO CONTE masterminded Chelsea’s late Champions League fightback with an A4 page’s worth of instructions.
When the Blues were 2-1 up but under pressure from relentless Roma, the Italian was forced into subbing David Luiz for Pedro, giving him a chance to send on a secret message with half-time long gone.
First Conte handed the sheet to defender David Zappacosta who delivered it first class to Cesc Fabregas.
The former Arsenal man had a good read of the page before turning it over to referee Damir Skomina.
But the official was not that impressed with Conte’s masterplan and slung the instructions away.
The Blues surrendered a two-goal lead to go 3-2 down with 20 minutes remaining at Stamford Bridge.
But talisman Eden Hazard popped up with a timely equaliser to earn a point for his side and see off a resilient Roma team led by former Manchester City duo Edin Dzeko and Aleksandar Kolarov.
After the draw, Hazard said: “It's a good result for both teams but we should win.
"When you're 2-0 up at home, you must win."
"They have a fantastic striker, it's one point each so we stay first in the group.
"We want to finish the job early.
"We gave everything until the end.
"We scored one and maybe should have scored another to win.”