Emma Hayes blasts ‘worst decisions in Women’s Champions League history’ after Chelsea exit

Chelsea’s manager, Emma Hayes, argues with the Romanian referee Iuliana Demetrescu after the 2-0 defeat by Barcelona at Stamford Bridge. Photograph: Crystal Pix/MB Media/Getty Images

Emma Hayes lambasted the red card shown to Kadeisha Buchanan and the award of the decisive penalty in Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat by Barcelona as “probably the worst decisions in Uefa Women’s Champions League history”.

Chelsea were a goal up going into the second leg, having inflicted the first home defeat on Barcelona in more than five years, but Aitana Bonmatí’s shot took a deflection off Buchanan to ensure the visitors were level on aggregate at the break. The centre‑back then picked up two very soft yellow cards to cut Chelsea down to 10 players and then Iuliana Demetrescu awarded a questionable penalty.

“I felt we were just coming on top, and you could see the combination of the crowd and the players were driving us, they felt really confident, so when you get such a shocking refereeing decision there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Hayes. “It’s hard enough when you’ve got 11 but when you’ve got 10 it’s virtually impossible.

“Even the Barcelona players said the referee was helpful to them. I didn’t think it was a foul, let alone a yellow card.”

The Chelsea manager said she was surprised to see Demetrescu had been awarded the semi‑final. “We didn’t feel we got the opportunity to lose [the game], that was taken away, and I think that I was surprised when I saw [the referee] selected, she’s known for easy cards. [They were] probably the worst decisions in Uefa Women’s Champions League history.”

Hayes went on to say she was “gutted for her players” and said they felt “robbed”.

After Buchanan’s exit, with the referee seemingly having forgotten the player was already booked when she issued the soft second yellow, Hayes appealed for a video assistant referee check, but the officials were unable to look at the decision, because it was not a straight red card. “That’s the hardest part, I’m stood there and looking at the fourth official and I said: ‘Surely that will be checked?’ and she says: ‘I can’t, it can’t on a yellow,’” she said.

The award of the penalty to Bonmatí was also controversial. “I thought it was equally soft,” said Hayes of the decision. “But she’s an amazing player Bonmatí, because Ashley [Lawrence] is on the outside of her, she’s clever, Aitana [Bonmatí], it’s clever, she leaves her leg there.”

Barcelona’s manager, Jonatan Giráldez, was dismissive of the controversy. “It’s part of the game,” he said, before referring back to a VAR intervention in the first leg. “When we played at home, we created a penalty and centimetres, two or three centimetres, we were disallowed in that situation, so it’s part of the game.”