Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham called Chelsea’s re-taken penalty a “joke” that sent his team out of the Champions League on Tuesday.
The round-of-16 second leg at Stamford Bridge ended 1–1 on aggregate, with the Blues winning 1–0 on the night through a Raheem Sterling goal after Ben Chilwell’s cross found the hands of Marius Wolff. Hit in the second half.
Ole: Chelsea win over Dortmund could be turning point for Potter
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Referee Danny Makele was sent to the monitors by VAR official Poul van Boekel to review the incident and subsequently awarded a spot kick which Kai Havertz missed to hit the post.
However, a further VAR review found that several Dortmund players had encroached on the penalty area before Havertz had struck the ball, prompting McClay to order a retake, which the Germany international did to his team. Converted to send them through to the quarter-finals by a 2-1 aggregate score.
“I’m not sure what else he can do with his hand,” Bellingham said after the match’s opening handball call. “That in itself was disappointing and the fact that they did a retake, I think is a joke.
“For every penalty, especially when you have such a slow run-up, the guys are going to encroach from a yard out in the box. They made the decision and we have to live with it.”
When asked for further detail about the caretaker, Bellingham said: “I don’t want to get into trouble. I paid them enough.”
The result is a huge boost for under-fire Chelsea head coach Graham Potter, whose team, now on back-to-back wins for the first time since October, lie 10th in the Premier League.
Potter faced criticism from a section of Chelsea fans and said: “Essentially, in life, you’re going to have bad times and good times. I don’t see any other way of looking at it. It’s that you How do you react? Bad times, get some perspective and analyze it properly. Things are not bad forever, but they feel like it sometimes!
“My job is to help the team, help the players, prepare well and support the team. They are also suffering. Nobody has enjoyed the run we have had. So today’s The day was important for us.” Us. We wanted to make progress, and we have, so we’re happy.
