Emma Hayes described referee Iuliana Demetrescu’s decision to send Kadeisha Buchanan off in Chelsea’s Women’s Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona as “the worst decision” in the history of the competition.
Chelsea’s hopes of winning a first Women’s Champions League title were ended as Barcelona overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit to win 2-0 at Stamford Bridge and progress to the final.
Fridolina Rolfo fired home from the penalty spot with 15 minutes to play to complete the defending champions’ fightback and seal a 2-1 aggregate victory, after Hayes’ side had been made to endure the final half hour with 10 players following Buchanan’s red card.
Barca had already levelled the tie via a fine finish from Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati by the time the Chelsea defender saw red. Reaching for a loose ball inside the centre circle, she appeared to get the ball before catching the ankle of Patri Guijarro and Demetrescu did not hesitate in showing a second yellow card.
Hayes said: “I was surprised when she was selected, she’s famous for easy cards and I think that is probably the worst decision in UEFA Women’s Champions league history.
“I’m gutted for [the players]. We were robbed.”
She added: “I stood there and looked at the fourth official and said ‘surely that will be checked’ and she said ‘it can’t on a yellow’.
“We were on top of the game. We’d just hit the post. Momentum was going in that direction. You need everything to go your away. They get two yellow cards, a deflection and a penalty. Everything went their way.
“The toughest thing to take is that we didn’t lose it. There’s nothing you can do when there’s such a terrible decision and it’s already hard enough. They are a top team.
“When you work so hard for days, weeks, months, years, you come here and you expect the best from the officials at the very least and it feels really, really hard to take.”
In Hayes’ final season in charge at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea battled gamely to give their outgoing manager the chance to depart on a high in next month’s final in Bilbao, but the Blues boss felt the red card killed any chance they had of beating “the best team in the world”.
She said: “When you lose football matches and you’ve been beaten by the better team 11 versus 11… listen they’re the best team in the world and they had a strong first half. In the second half it felt we were just coming on top.
“You could see the combinations, the crowd and the players were driving us and they felt really confident and so when you get such a shocking decision there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s hard with 11 [players] but with 10 it’s virtually impossible.
“I didn’t think it was a foul, let alone a yellow card. We didn’t we got the opportunity to lose [the game]. That was taken away.”
I thought it was equally soft. But she’s a brilliant player. She leaves her leg there and it is clever.
Barca boss downplays Buchanan dismissal
Barca manager Jonatan Giraldez downplayed the importance of Buchanan’s dismissal in his side’s win.
“It’s part of the game,” he said. “The second [card], the ref in that moment shows the second yellow.
“For me the most important thing is management of emotions. Today we were better than Chelsea.”
‘WSL or bust for Chelsea now’
Analysis from Sky Sports’ Oliver Yew and Charlotte Marsh:
“There will be no winning the Champions League for Emma Hayes at Chelsea.
“The big talking point is Buchanan’s controversial red card. There’s absolutely no getting away from it with the defender appearing to get all of the ball in making her challenge. Hayes went straight over to the referee at full-time to makes her point. The home fans made their feelings known too as the referee headed for the dressing rooms.
“It’s a decision that may not have changed the result. Chelsea were wasteful and Barcelona showed their quality, but it is a decision that had an impact on the game with the tie locked at 1-1 at the time.
“Chelsea will feel aggrieved but they can feel proud. At full-time, they acknowledged the sold out Stamford Bridge crowd – the first time this famous old ground has been at capacity for a women’s game. Hayes has always said it would be a dream to sell out the bridge for a women’s fixture, and in her final game at the ground, she has achieved it.
“Moments will be pointed to, especially in this leg, but it’s Barcelona who reach another Champions League final – their fourth in a row. There were big celebrations from the Barcelona players on the field and big celebrations from the Barca coaching staff just in front of the dugout. That continued into the dressing rooms, showing they knew they had to dig deep to get past this Chelsea side.
But despite a gallant performance from the Blues in exiting Europe, it’s another trophy that has slipped through Chelsea’s fingertips after losing 1-0 after extra time to Arsenal in the League Cup final in March and their FA Cup exit after a 2-1 defeat to Manchester United in April.
“It’s now the WSL or bust for Hayes and Chelsea this season.”
What’s next for Chelsea?
Chelsea continue their bid to win the Women’s Super League when they visit Liverpool on Wednesday May 1, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 7pm.
They then host Bristol City in the WSL on Sunday May 5, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 6.45pm.
Source : Sky Sports
