Former Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel forced DAZN into an apology after ripping into Nicolas Jackson at the Club World Cup. The Chelsea striker was sent off four minutes after being introduced as a substitute in his side’s 3-1 defeat to Flamengo.
Mikel labelled Jackson ‘stupid’ and accused the 24-year-old of being ‘p***ed off’ that Chelsea have signed Liam Delap as competition for the centre-forward role. Delap made his first start against Flamengo before being withdrawn in the 64th minute. Four minutes later, Jackson was being led down the tunnel after a horror challenge on Danilo. With Enzo Maresca’s side 2-1 down by that point, the Senegal international left his side with a huge task and they went on to concede a third.
Furious with Jackson, Mikel ranted on DAZN: “Don’t get me started. Unbelievable. Stupid, stupid, stupid mistake. I don’t know what’s going through his head. You come into the game, you’re 2-1 down at that point. You come in and the team needs you, you need to get back in the game, and he does that.
“He did that in a league game at Newcastle and again a very important game where we need to win to qualify for the Champions League and he got a red card. Now he’s come in again and done this. You can’t keep making mistakes like this.
“I don’t care what his frustration is. It’s a massive football club, Chelsea Football Club. It’s about competition. If you’re angry, if you’re p***ed off that Delap has come into the club and be the competition with you, you have to embrace it.
“If you’re a big player, embrace it. The only way we can be successful and win trophies is when we compete against each other and if the competition is there. Then we can become successful together as a team and win trophies.”
DAZN presenter Kelly Somers told viewers: “Lots of emotion as you can imagine in the studio right now, particularly from Mikel, so apologies for any language used there.”
Chelsea looked shattered as they fell to a disappointing reverse in Philadelphia. Pedro Neto put them ahead in the first half but a four-minute reverse saw Bruno Henrique equaliser before former Manchester City defender Danilo put Flamengo ahead.
Wallace Yan scored a third. Chelsea offered little threat in the second half.