CHELSEA fans are divided after their team gave Premier League champions Manchester City the guard of honour at the Etihad.
City were confirmed as this season’s Prem winners on Saturday when title rivals Arsenal lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
Therefore, the Blues were required to give the Citizens a guard of honour before kick-off.
City manager Pep Guardiola decided to rest key players like Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan with the title already sealed and the FA Cup as well as Champions League still to play for.
Guardiola opted for back-up options, such as Stefan Ortega, Sergio Gomez, Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer.
That didn’t sit well with some Chelsea fans, who could see their star-studded team finishing 12th in the Premier League table despite spending almost £1billion on signings this season.
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And they are not happy to see the “most expensive guard of honour” for City’s “B team”.
One fan tweeted: “Gave the reserves a guard of honour.”
Another posted: “We gave a guard of honour to Pep’s B team.”
A third wrote: “This has to be the most expensive guard of honour.”
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This fan said: “Giving a guard of honour to a team without a single Champions League trophy doesn’t sit well with me.”
And that one stated: “We gave Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer a guard of honour, if this doesn’t motivate our players to at the very least, get top 4 next season then this bunch of players is finished.”
However, there were some Chelsea fans that praised their players for showing class despite their turbulent campaign.
Others believe this could motivate the players to turn a corner next season, just like they did in 2017 just a year after giving Leicester a guard of honour when they finished in 10th place.
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This fan tweeted: “I missed the guard of honour in the telly but this is class from Chelsea.”
That one said: “What a guard of honour from Chelsea.”
And a third wrote: “Guard of honour for worthy champions. I hope the pain spur my lads up.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
