Chelsea: Reece James’ reaction to Hakim Ziyech not letting take free-kick v Dinamo Zagreb

Chelsea’s underwhelming start to the 2022-23 season continued on Tuesday night as they slumped to a 1-0 defeat away at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening game of the Champions League group stages.

Mislav Orsic scored the only goal of the game in the 13th minute, running from his own half and fending off Chelsea’s new £75 million defensive signing Wesley Fofana before slotting the ball past Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Thomas Tuchel sent on Hakim Ziyech in place of Cesar Azpilicueta at half-time but the Morocco international failed to impress. Some media outlets even went as far as to describe his second-half performance as a ‘horror cameo’.

Ziyech frustrated some of his teammates – as well as the club’s supporters – by refusing to give Reece James a late free-kick, despite already missing a similar chance minutes earlier.

In the sixth minute of stoppage-time, Chelsea were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position. This was a decent opportunity to snatch a point.

James was keen to take the set-piece after Ziyech had only just missed, but Chelsea’s No. 22 was having none of it. He was determined to have a second bite of the cherry.

James, who recently signed a new six-year contract worth a reported £250,000-a-week, clearly wasn’t happy and was seen making a gesture towards teammate Mason Mount.

The England international’s reaction was spotted by BT Sport co-commentator Martin Keown, who said: “I think you can see there’s a bit of a row taking place. James is saying ‘Really, after that one? You want to take another one?’”

Watch the incident here:

Clearly James was annoyed by Ziyech wanting to take that freekick again. #ChampionsLeague #chelsea #ziyech #ReeceJames #ZagChe pic.twitter.com/QSP7zJkMIi

James barely moved as Ziyech took the