Both Chelsea and Chelsea Women were on the wrong end of refereeing decisions in the Premier League and in the Women’s Champions League
Chelsea managers Mauricio Pochettino and Emma Hayes were on the end of controversial decisions in the Premier League and in the Women’s Champions League respectively.
The Blues were denied a stoppage-time winner at Aston Villa after trailing 2-0 at half-time. Marc Cucurella awarded the hosts an early own goal and Morgan Rogers doubled the lead.
Noni Madueke and Conor Gallagher scored the goals for Chelsea in the second half and thought they had claimed a late winner through Axel Disasi. But after an on-field VAR review, Craig Pawson deemed that Benoit Badiashile had impeded Diego Carlos.
A furious Pochettino said after the game: “Me and you and everyone in the stadium watching the game. They didn’t see a foul on the pitch and then VAR changed the decision of the referee. For me, that was a normal challenge. The decision was there and that’s it.
“For me, it damaged a little bit the Premier League and English [football]. If we want to be the best league in the world it should be protecting the spectacle and the decision. At Wembley for handball was a penalty against Manchester City and the referee didn’t check and the VAR didn’t advise the referee to see the incident.
“Damaged myself, damaged my team, my players, my fans. We are a young team. The performance was good. I’m so happy with the reaction.”
Chelsea Women meanwhile, were also on the end of a wrong decision during their Champions League semi-final tie with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had won 1-0 in the first leg tie and looked to progress to the final of the competition.
They went on to lose 2-0 after decisions went against them. Manager Emma Hayes described it as being the “worst decision in Champions League history.”
Referee Iuliana Demetrescu sent off defender Kadeisha Buchanan for a second yellow early in the second half. Although VAR was in use, it was not able to intervene on Buchanan’s dismissal because she had been shown a yellow card.
Hayes said: “In the second half we were coming on top and you could see the players felt really confident. So when you get such a shocking official decision there’s nothing you can do about it.
“It’s hard enough for us when you’ve got 11 but with 10 it’s virtually impossible. Everyone knows [we’ve been robbed], even Barcelona said the referee was helpful for them. I didn’t think it was a foul, let alone a yellow card.
“I was surprised when I saw her selected, she is famous for easy cards and I think that is probably the worst decision in Champions League history. I’m gutted for [the players]. We were robbed. We had just hit the post. You need everything to go your way. They get two yellow cards, a deflection and penalty. Everything went their way. It didn’t go our way tonight.”
Source: https://www.football.london/chelsea-fc/news/chelsea-managers-mauricio-pochettino-emma-29075603