What Chelsea assistant manager Jesus Perez did to Raheem Sterling at half-time in Leicester match

What Jesus Perez, the assistant manager of Chelsea, did to Raheem Sterling during halftime of the Leicester game

During Sunday afternoon’s FA Cup quarterfinal matchup between Chelsea and Leicester City, Chelsea supporters expressed their frustration with Raheem Sterling and Mauricio Pochettino.

Marc Cucurella and Cole Palmer’s goals gave Chelsea a 2-0 lead at the half, but Leicester City quickly closed the gap. After a horrendous own goal by Axel Disasi cut the lead to 2-1, former Arsenal player Stephy Mavididi scored a spectacular goal to make it 2-2. However, there was resentment aimed at Pochettino as well as Sterling.

After stealing the ball from Cole Palmer, the regular penalty taker, Sterling missed one in the first half. Jakub Stolarczyk, the Poliosh keeper, easily saved his poor spot kick. Nicolas Jackson played a clean through to him on another one-on-one, but he missed it.

At halftime, Sterling needed assistant head coach Jesus Perez to put an arm around his shoulder, but things would get worse. Callum Doyle’s tackle of Jackson as he was going through on goal in the second half earned Chelsea another penalty.

However, VAR stepped in and declared that the incident had occurred outside of the box. Doyle was also given a red card instead of his original yellow one. Instead of Palmer, who was also over the ball, Sterling took charge of the free kick right on the edge of the box, but he blasted it high and wide.

A deafening chorus of boos came from the supporters inside Stamford Bridge to express their displeasure. Shortly afterward, Pochettino made the decision to activate Carney Chukwuemeka from the substitutes’ bench. But not for Mykhailo Mudryk, not for Sterling. The head coach of the Blues was met with yet another round of jeers.

Five minutes before the end, Sterling was eventually substituted, drawing more jeers, but the supporters were also wildly applauding the former England player, which is commendable given what they had just seen.