Ex-Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri taken to hospital as Lazio release statement

Maurizio Sarri – who won the Europa League with Chelsea in 2019 – only just returned to football management with Lazio last month after taking a one-year sabbatical and took ill during a training session

Former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri was taken to hospital after suffering a “sudden illness” while taking Lazio training – but the Italian is understood to have recovered after initial checks.

The 66-year-old will be remembered by English football fans for his one-year stint at Chelsea that saw him win the Europa League in his first season.

Sarri left the Blues for Juventus, where he won the Serie A in the following campaign before linking up with Lazio in 2021.

He spent three years with the Rome outfit before resigning from his role in 2024 as he decided to take a sabbatical from football management.

But he returned to Lazio, who re-appointed him last month following the departure of coach Marco Baroni.

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And just weeks after he took back the reigns at the club, Sarri was taken unwell while leading a pre-season training session.

But Lazio were quick to confirm that Sarri had since returned to Lazio’s training centre after undergoing medical tests.

“Coach Sarri is returning to Formello and, as scheduled, will lead the training session at 6:00 PM as usual,” a club statement read.

“This morning, he underwent a thorough fitness check, more comprehensive than the tests conducted on the players at the Training Center.”

Some reports in Italy claimed Sarri fell unwell due to the searing temperatures in Rome, with the Italian capital reporting temperatures of 35 degrees celsius on Wednesday.

Sarri has managed a host of clubs in his career after starting out as a banker in Tuscany, a job he juggled alongside being an amateur footballer.

He started coaching low level Italian clubs before slowly rising up the divisions and eventually emerging as a top coach with Napoli, who he joined in 2015.

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