Chelsea “got away with one” against Atletico Madrid as referee Daniele Orsato decided not to give a first-half penalty.
The Blues looked at risk of ceding their one-goal advantage in the Champions League last 16 tie when Atletico wide man Yannick Carrasco went down in the box under pressure from Cesar Azpilicueta.
The incident stemmed from Azpilicueta’s back pass to goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Realising he hadn’t put enough pace on the ball, the Chelsea captain appeared to tug at Carrasco’s shirt as he tried to steal in and intercept.
As Orsato waved away Atletico’s protests, the consensus among the experts watching on was that Chelsea were extremely lucky.
“He’s definitely fouled him,” said former Chelsea midfielder and manager Glenn Hoddle on BT Sport commentary. “He’s pulled him back. It’s probably on the line, which deems it’s a penalty. They’ve got away with that one.”
Co-commentator Steve McManaman concurred, albeit felt that Carrasco went down softly. “It looks inside the box. He drags him back but he [Carrasco] makes the most of it.”
Over on BBC 5 Live, former England and Chelsea winger Karen Carney was also surprised Orsato didn’t point to the spot.
“I think that’s a penalty – my first instinct was penalty,” Carney said. “Was it enough for him to go down in the manner that he has? Probably not, no, but Azpilicueta has got away with one there I think.”
Former Premier League referee Peter Walton believed Orsato must have decided the contact was not sufficient for a foul.
“On the face of it, Chelsea have got away with one. But you have to remember the VAR is looking for a clear and obvious error from the referee,” Walton said on BT.
“First of all, was the offence outside the area, or inside the area? The VAR would have checked that but then you have to look at the tolerance the referee is having. In this instance I think Chelsea got away with one but that is the way the referee is refereeing the game.”
Atletico’s sense of hard luck was compounded minutes later when Hakim Ziyech finished off a brilliant counter-attacking move to put Chelsea 2-0 up on aggregate.
The two teams were battling at Stamford Bridge for a place in the Champions League quarter-final draw.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3cMdOcG
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