On Sunday, in the Carabao finals pitting Manchester City and Chelsea, Kepa refused to come off and his side lost 4-3 in the penalty Shootouts.
Here are others starts that refused to follow their managersinstructons as compiled by www.foxsportsasia.com.
Riyad Mahrez
Manchester City had made it fairly clear in the lead up to the January 2018 transfer window that they wanted Leicester’s midfield magician, Riyad Mahrez.
The Algerian’s standard of performance began to drop once his head was turned, and it became plainly obvious that Mahrez intended to ply his trade in the blue half of Manchester.
To their credit, the Foxes dug their heels in and ensured their best player wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Unusually for a player that wants to leave, Mahrez then decided to strike after the move didn’t go through, not whilst trying to force Leicester’s hand.
He wasn’t seen for some while, refusing to even train, however, once he’d calmed down and been fined the requisite two weeks wages, all was forgotten until the summer when he eventually got his wish.
Dimitri Payet
It’s unlikely the Frenchman will ever be forgiven by West Ham fans.
Not since Paolo di Canio had the Hammers enjoyed such sublime skills from one of their players, Payet simply a cut above.
His free-kicks were astonishing, as were his dribbling skills and pass success.
However, after a wonderful Euro 2016, the attacking midfielder got a little too big for his boots.
A new, bumper contract to ward off any suitors couldn’t even persuade him that east London was the best place for him.
After expressing a preference for returning to Marseille, Payet, whose performance levels were decreasing by the week, refused to play for West Ham again.
Predictably, the board said ‘he’s going nowhere,’ but after public opinion swung in their favour, they had to concede that it was better for all parties that the move was granted.
Raheem Sterling
Not wanting to lose one of their star players, Liverpool refused to consider allowing Raheem Sterling to leave for Manchester City.
However, the player consistently refused any contract offers from the Reds, making it plainly obvious where he wanted to play.
A refusal to go on a pre-season tour was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and though it still took a while for the move to be signed off, it was never not going to happen once the player had been that disrespectful to a club that pride themselves on having certain values.
Diego Costa
One of the stranger moves of recent times.
After Diego Costa was told by a text from Antonio Conte that he didn’t feature in the new Chelsea manager’s plans, one would surely have expected the club to facilitate a move for the centre-forward.
What’s odd is that never seemed to be forthcoming, as if they expected Costa to be content with being second or third choice and only played out of absolute necessity. Certainly, Chelsea never looked like wanting to move him on.
So the striker took the bull by the horns and flew back home to Brazil, where he stayed for a few months, refusing to return and, by virtue of the fact he wasn’t in the same country, making himself unavailable to Conte should the Italian have required his services.
Eventually a deal was thrashed out with former club, Atletico Madrid, and in January 2018, Costa re-signed for the Rojiblancos.
Carlos Tevez
The Argentinian really only has himself to blame.
During a game against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Tevez was told to warm up and get ready to come on for Manchester City by then manager, Roberto Mancini.
He refused. More than once.
Mancini, who isn’t and wasn’t known for holding his tongue, let the striker know exactly what he thought.
Telling Tevez to ‘go back to Argentina’ was taken quite literally, with the striker refusing to co-operate or play for Mancini for a full two months, even though his club suspension for the transgression had been spent long before.