Mykhaylo Mudryk has caused a stir online after sharing a post praising Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi after he was played out of position during Chelsea's 2-0 defeat against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
The Ukrainian winger, who arrived at Stamford Bridge in a blockbuster £87million transfer back in January, started the crunch Champions League tie on the bench with the Blues needing to overhaul a two goal deficit against the reigning champions to advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
A brace from Rodrygo was ultimately enough to send Chelsea packing, with Mudryk featuring at left-back for the final 20 minutes of the match after replacing Marc Cucurella.
Caretaker manager Frank Lampard's decision to deploy Mudryk in a defensive role left the majority of Blues fans on social media bemused, with many ridiculing the decision making of the Stamford Bridge icon, who has now lost all four of his matches since he was drafted in to replace Graham Potter earlier this month.
And Mudryk's decision to post an image of himself with De Zerbi, who managed the winger at his former club Shakhtar Donetsk, on social media in the aftermath of Tuesday night's loss has not gone unnoticed.
The Italian coach has excelled since taking up the reins at Brighton earlier this year - so much so that he was tentatively linked with the top job at Chelsea in the aftermath of the club's decision to part company with Potter.
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De Zerbi and Mudryk were reunited at the weekend, where the Brighton chief masterminded a famous 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge to pile the misery on Lampard and co ahead of their crunch meeting with Los Blancos.
And Mudryk made his respect for his old boss clear by sharing two images of him and De Zerbi from Saturday's match on his Instagram story with the caption: "Nice to meet you again," complete with a heart emoji.
It has since been reported that De Zerbi is not under consideration to replace Potter at Stamford Bridge. Former Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann is the current favourite to take charge next season after holding talks with the Blues hierarchy.
Lampard, meanwhile, has vowed that he will get Chelsea back on track before the arrival of a new head coach following their latest setback. Speaking on Tuesday night, the temporary Blues boss said: "We played really well for 60 minutes. We created chances but you have to take them. You don't want to praise the performance too much when you lose at this level but we were much improved. This club has been further in this competition and the players can take this feeling forward with them for the future."
