Mauricio Pochettino slams controversial VAR call as Chelsea are denied victory
The Blues were denied a late winner in Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa (Pictures: Getty)
Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino has slammed the decision to disallow Axel Disasi’s late goal against Aston Villa and believes it has ‘damaged the image of English football’.
The west Londoners fell behind after just four minutes at Villa Park on Saturday night to a Marc Cucurella own goal, with Morgan Rodgers doubling the lead just before half-time following a lethargic showing from the visitors.
Chelsea gave a much-improved showing after the restart, though, and grabbed a goal back through Noni Madueke before skipper Conor Gallagher levelled the scores with a stunning long-range effort with his weaker left foot.
It was all one-way traffic in the dying stages and Cole Palmer should have grabbed a stoppage-time winner only to be denied by substitute goalkeeper Robin Olsen, though there were wild scenes in the away end mere moments later when Disasi headed home off the underside of the crossbar.
The celebrations were short-lived, however, with referee Craig Pawson sent to the pitch-side monitor by VAR Chris Kavanagh for a foul from Benoit Badiashile in the build-up.
The centre-back was adjudged to have pushed Diego Carlos in the back just before crossing for Disasi, though Pawson had a clean view of the incident and waved play on with many people – not least Chelsea’s players – feeling it did not constitute a clear and obvious error.
Pochettino was clearly unhappy afterwards and felt the nudge from Badiashile was nowhere near significant enough to rule out the goal, branding the decision ‘ridiculous’.
Speaking to TNT Sports afterwards, a clearly annoyed Pochettino said: ‘I think everyone that was watching the game feels disappointed. I think we need to explain to the people also two different things.
Chelsea thought they had grabbed a stoppage-time winner (Picture: Getty)
‘If the referee says foul and disallows the goal it’s one thing, and then go to the VAR and confirm, that is [fine] to stay with the decision.
‘But when the referee didn’t see nothing and then goes with the VAR and changes the decision of the referee there…
‘I’m not going to say nothing bad, I don’t want to talk bad about the referee or the [VAR] but it’s unbelievable, it’s ridiculous. It’s difficult to accept this type of thing.
Chelsea’s players were furious with the officials at full-time (Picture: Getty)
‘In the semi-final [of the FA Cup] two weeks ago it was handball and that was no penalty and the VAR says no penalty and the referee didn’t check. And now this situation.
‘So yes, of course, it’s really painful because I think it has damaged English football for me. It has damaged the image.
‘And I think even Aston Villa players or even the fans didn’t understand why the goal was disallowed.’
Asked if the referee gave any explanation afterwards, Pochettino continued: ‘No, [he said] it was a foul. And when you see the challenge, it’s a challenge. What happens if every single challenge like this is going to be a foul? I don’t think we finish the game with 11 v 11!
‘That is the difficult thing to understand. We can talk about performance or decisions or many things, but I think this type of [refereeing] decision is damaging the game.’
When it was suggested he was frustrated, Pochettino replied: ‘I am not frustrated! I am relaxed, I am calm. I am going to say nothing wrong.’
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