Sonia Bompastor has criticised the standard of refereeing in the Champions League as “not good enough” after Chelsea were eliminated by Arsenal in the quarter-finals. The Chelsea manager was shown two yellow cards in a frantic end to the second leg at Stamford Bridge, which saw Arsenal progress despite controversy over a hair pull incident.
Arsenal advanced with a 3-2 aggregate win after Chelsea won the second leg 1-0, but the result was overshadowed by a flashpoint in injury time. Katie McCabe dragged Chelsea forward Alyssa Thompson down by the hair, but Danish referee Frida Klarlund waved away appeals for a red card. Bompastor questioned why the VAR did not intervene, saying: “Why are they not going back to that, just checking and having a clear call on that?”
The Chelsea boss also hit back at McCabe’s claim that the hair pull was unintentional, stating: “I think the intention is clear for me: she tried to grab the hair. And I think for that reason, it’s clearly a red card.” Bompastor criticised Uefa for expressing satisfaction with their referee selection process after a similar incident in the first leg, adding: “If they are happy with what happened in the first leg and tonight, that’s not good enough.”
Sjoeke Nüsken’s injury-time strike gave Chelsea hope but it was not enough to overturn Arsenal’s first-leg advantage. The Gunners thought they had sealed the tie when Stina Blackstenius headed in, but the goal was ruled out for offside. Chelsea pushed for an equaliser, with Lauren James forcing a save and Veerle Buurman hitting the post, before Nüsken finally scored at the near post deep into added time.
Arsenal manager Renée Slegers acknowledged the challenge ahead as they continue their title defence, saying: “We take nothing for granted, we need to earn the right. We did something last year that gave us inspiration and also experience of how those things can be done – but that is no guarantee.”
