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Moments after their Premier League clash against Aston Villa ended in a 2-2 draw at Villa Park, the Chelsea players stormed the referee for disallowing their late winner courtesy of Axel Disasi. In the post-match, Mauricio Pochettino, the manager of Chelsea, labelled the referee Craig Pawson “unbelievable” and called his decision “ridiculous.”
In the second-half stoppage time, Chelsea thought that they had scored a late winner when Axel Disasi put the header past Robin Olsen in the Aston Villa goal, but the VAR Chris Kavanagh advised the referee Craig Pawson to review it pitchside. The referee concluded Benoit Badiashile’s nudge on Diego Carlos in the build-up as a foul, ruling out the goal.
With that, Chelsea had to settle for a point in a high-stakes Premier League contest, which led to Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi getting into the face of the referee. Shortly after, the rest of the Chelsea players joined in the fray before the coaching staff tried to stop them from committing harakiri post-match.
The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous: Mauricio Pochettino
While talking to TNT Sports, Mauricio Pochettino was far from pleased about the dying seconds of the match, and said, “The referee is unbelievable and it's ridiculous. It is difficult to accept these types of things in the semi-final (FA Cup clash against Man City) two weeks ago it was handball and it was no penalty, the referee didn't check it.”
“It is painful as it has damaged English football and I think Villa players and their fans didn't understand why the goal was disallowed,” he added.
Moreover, Aston Villa had taken a 2-0 lead at half-time, through an own goal from Marc Cucurella in the fourth minute, followed by Morgan Rodgers’ strike in the 42nd minute. In the second half, Noni Madueke brought Chelsea back into the contest with a goal in the 62nd minute, while Conor Gallagher levelled it up at 2-2 in the 81st minute.
Here is the clip of Chelsea players having a heated exchange with referee: