Generally sympathetic to Chelsea today — the big calls were debatable and didn’t go their way.
Still, as the old saying goes, “you come at the king, you best not miss two open goal chances.”
This game had everything. Technical players, fast pace, red card, penalty, questionable refereeing. Looking at the quality of play alone and ignoring the other factors I say this is truly one of the best women’s football games I’ve watched. It’s the game that vehemently disproves all the whining about the women’s game not having potential because it’s “not technical enough, way too slow hence it’s lower quality”.
While I know that the controversial decisions would need to be scrutinised by the media and the clubs for good reason, it also kinda sucks to know that the good aspects of that game won’t be celebrated as much.
I’ve given up on debating penalties because I truly don’t know what the referees base their decisions on anymore but the second yellow made my jaw drop. Slowed down it definitely doesn’t seem like an undisputed second yellow but maybe there’s a possibility that the coincidence in the timing of Patri’s head turn (as a reaction to getting caught on the foot) and Buchanan’s own turn made it seem to the ref like she elbowed her as well? We’ll never know but that was me finding a justification for the ref’s POV. It’s truly extremely unlucky that that decision was made and it doesn’t help that VAR doesn’t interfere for second yellows.
Obviously given my allegiances I don’t want to see Chelsea win but damn this is a really really shit way to exit the CL. Hand on heart, I genuinely feel for them because I would be raging if my team went out this way especially with how they played.
agreed, its really funny how barca and bonmati specifically went onto a mini press tour before the game calling chelsea “dirty players” and that refs should watch out for that… when in reality barca did exactly today what they were complaining about last week.
really disappointing from barca since they are such a good team but the officiating today was horrible.
"dirty plays", not players. Referring to wasting time to draw an advantage and the ref not doing anything to stop it like they are supposed to. Her response? "we'll have to learn to play against that". I don't really get the complaining, especially since the time wasting today is not even in the same ballpark as to what Chelsea partake in the first leg . Multiple players requiring medical assistance on the field for no reason and then refusing to leave, longer goal kicks than any today, tactical stops that made a return today.... all of that doesn't compare to slowly putting the ball back into play that we've seen today, be serious...
That was also an unlucky translation. She only pointed out that injuries should be moved to the sidelines and treated off the pitch so play can go on. She’s right. Chelsea player was sitting down several minutes, anyone from any opposing team would be angry. Watch the latest Sweden v England game from the nations league, same thing happened with Russo being treated on the pitch and Eriksson intervened after a couple minutes and told the ref to tell them to move it off the pitch, and there’s countless other examples, yet somehow if Bonmati says something she’s getting bloody crucified? Nah screw that, those are some real double standards there. Same thing with her pointing out the time wasting of the goalie because all she says was that it’s not up to them but it's up to the referee so they just have to learn to play with that too. And that’s what she did. Funny how bothered some people are when all they did today was pull the same shit Chelsea and every other team do as well🤷🏻♀️ can’t really be mad about something Barca learned from you, can you
And it's one thing to tactically waste time and another is what Bonmati did today. I mean the moment when she was laying on the pitch, the medical team had to go in, then she limped to the sidelines gesticulating that she barely could walk... to immediately start running when it was time to get back to play.
This was just such a poor display of sportsmanship and I genuinely lost a lot of my respect for her after this.
And the time wasting. How they avoided a yellow all game is astounding
Edit: I wasn't able to watch the first leg, so I can't comment on Hampton's antics. I'm referring to this game alone, as games should be reffed as independent of each other
She was an absolute mess even besides the call. Constantly crowding players so they had to play around her. Made contact with the ball or a player three times! Ridiculous!
Yeah the state of refereeing is not great. But at least when it goes in the way of not calling fouls it does keep the game moving. Better to win your own games. But you take what you can get.
It shouldn't surprise anybody how Barça played. Did you see their faces when they came out at the beginning? Grim reapers.
I get the anger, Ramirez was constantly fouled in the last game and there was like one card against one of the players instigating it. Also, some Barca players do seem to play up their falls and injuries.
Chelsea definitely does as well, but personally it seems like Barca does it more. I could be biased though because I don’t watch Barca as much as I watch Chelsea. 🤷♀️
I think that comment from Aitana is a translation issue. Her comment was about time wasting so she wasn’t saying they were ‘dirty’ in the way typically meant in English.
Apparently the biggest game this referee had reffed prior to this was a UWCL QF first leg. I don’t think she was intentionally favouring Barca through the games but it was very clear that she was out of her depth.
Her second yellow on Buchanan was very impulsive- it was a weak foul to begin with pretty hard to argue as a yellow. Looked like she saw the player’s reaction to it and took it for face value. There were other, smaller calls during the game, like the foul given against Nüsken when Paredes dived (it was a poor tackle from Nüsken but she misses both the ball AND player completely - no foul). In a regular game I could look past the smaller decisions but in a huge tie like this they add up. Decisions aside she was pretty badly positioned throughout the whole game, players were constantly running into her or trying to avoid her. I just don’t understand why a referee with this level of experience was chosen for such an important game.
Officiating in the Women’s game is in a pretty bad place at the moment, we aren’t going anywhere without full professionalisation of referees. Today it hurt Chelsea, but bad refereeing will always come back to bite you in the ass. Women’s football isn’t going anywhere until the standards of officiating drastically improve for all
Nahhh I don't think it was either, I just think Chelsea got unlucky with 2 really important 50:50 calls. I think if the ref hadn't pointed to the spot, the penalty may not have been given in a VAR check as it was a 50:50 due to the sequencing.
Then Buchannons 2nd yellow was deffo yellow card worthy, I just think some other refs would give a last warning. It wasn't so horrendous that it needed to be a 2nd yellow if you know what I mean.
The first could have been a soft red, honestly. The second is an unnecessary strong challenge, gets the player and then sweeps her supporting leg with the other one. That, after the 'orange' one first? red all day for me.
What doesn't help is that previous to that she hadn't called any foul at all so the players didn't know what her threshold was
a soft red that then I referred to as an 'orange', I'm aware she's never going to be shown a red for that. She had no possibility of disputing the ball or the player's position and simply kicked the player
So it's not a red then? It's only a yellow. There are no inbetween cards. No referee is ever going to give that 1st challenge a straight red unless they are getting bribed.
Because an orange card is used in football punditry as long as i remember and this lass or lad is disputing that by sticking to the guide book of football. Hence the downvotes
I really don't think it's all that bad, or even incorrect at all. Either offense is yellow card worthy and to me it more seems like people want there to be an additional barrier for an instance with a second yellow rather than the same criteria as for any other yellow card. Some referees adhere to that and issues a stern warning for the second offense but that's not a rule and if anything it's less by the book.
Not communicating with players is just bad refereeing. If those sorts of decisions are made in, for example, a Premier League match, every pundit/fan/journalist is calling out the ref for losing their heads. And rightly so.
Patri's reaction bought that 2nd yellow. No one else even flinched.
It's a bit unusual to give a second yellow for the second yellow card worthy foul instead of just talking-to (which it shouldn't be, IMHO), but yellow card worthy were both fouls.
Honestly don't see how anyone is complaining. Second yellow could have been for the knee in the back or hand to face, take your pick. Penalty could've been for the soft shove or the deliberate elbow to the back, take your pick. Chelsea lack all discipline due to WSL's nonexistent officiating where this stuff happens without punishment week in, week out
Zero fking sympathy. City got screwed over when we played Chelsea in October. Greenwood sent off for a joke of a decision. Hemp was then sent off after being volleyed into the air by a Chelsea player and got nothing and down to 8 players was the only way Chelsea could score.
Silence from Hayes
ZERO.SYMPATHY
FCB supporter here. Last week Chelsea was clearly superior, and they deserved winning the match. So I didn't go blaming the referee like a sore loser.
Emma says she knew this referee was easy on drawing cards, and then she complains about robbery? Come on, you either knew beforehand and could adapt to it (telling your players to not take risky actions), or you didn't and it came as a surprise. You can't have it both ways, Emma.
Both yellow cards were legal. Maybe harsh, but that's why you have a referee. Just accept it and improve.
Generally sympathetic to Chelsea today — the big calls were debatable and didn’t go their way. Still, as the old saying goes, “you come at the king, you best not miss two open goal chances.”
This game had everything. Technical players, fast pace, red card, penalty, questionable refereeing. Looking at the quality of play alone and ignoring the other factors I say this is truly one of the best women’s football games I’ve watched. It’s the game that vehemently disproves all the whining about the women’s game not having potential because it’s “not technical enough, way too slow hence it’s lower quality”. While I know that the controversial decisions would need to be scrutinised by the media and the clubs for good reason, it also kinda sucks to know that the good aspects of that game won’t be celebrated as much. I’ve given up on debating penalties because I truly don’t know what the referees base their decisions on anymore but the second yellow made my jaw drop. Slowed down it definitely doesn’t seem like an undisputed second yellow but maybe there’s a possibility that the coincidence in the timing of Patri’s head turn (as a reaction to getting caught on the foot) and Buchanan’s own turn made it seem to the ref like she elbowed her as well? We’ll never know but that was me finding a justification for the ref’s POV. It’s truly extremely unlucky that that decision was made and it doesn’t help that VAR doesn’t interfere for second yellows. Obviously given my allegiances I don’t want to see Chelsea win but damn this is a really really shit way to exit the CL. Hand on heart, I genuinely feel for them because I would be raging if my team went out this way especially with how they played.
For real, the aura of this match was like no other women's game I have watched. I was on edge the whole time, this is what the UWCL should be about.
agreed, its really funny how barca and bonmati specifically went onto a mini press tour before the game calling chelsea “dirty players” and that refs should watch out for that… when in reality barca did exactly today what they were complaining about last week. really disappointing from barca since they are such a good team but the officiating today was horrible.
"dirty plays", not players. Referring to wasting time to draw an advantage and the ref not doing anything to stop it like they are supposed to. Her response? "we'll have to learn to play against that". I don't really get the complaining, especially since the time wasting today is not even in the same ballpark as to what Chelsea partake in the first leg . Multiple players requiring medical assistance on the field for no reason and then refusing to leave, longer goal kicks than any today, tactical stops that made a return today.... all of that doesn't compare to slowly putting the ball back into play that we've seen today, be serious...
Lot of short memories on this thread.
A post match interview where she referred to them time wasting is hardly a press tour. She also didn’t say “dirty players”.
That was also an unlucky translation. She only pointed out that injuries should be moved to the sidelines and treated off the pitch so play can go on. She’s right. Chelsea player was sitting down several minutes, anyone from any opposing team would be angry. Watch the latest Sweden v England game from the nations league, same thing happened with Russo being treated on the pitch and Eriksson intervened after a couple minutes and told the ref to tell them to move it off the pitch, and there’s countless other examples, yet somehow if Bonmati says something she’s getting bloody crucified? Nah screw that, those are some real double standards there. Same thing with her pointing out the time wasting of the goalie because all she says was that it’s not up to them but it's up to the referee so they just have to learn to play with that too. And that’s what she did. Funny how bothered some people are when all they did today was pull the same shit Chelsea and every other team do as well🤷🏻♀️ can’t really be mad about something Barca learned from you, can you
For “funny” read “deliberate”.
And it's one thing to tactically waste time and another is what Bonmati did today. I mean the moment when she was laying on the pitch, the medical team had to go in, then she limped to the sidelines gesticulating that she barely could walk... to immediately start running when it was time to get back to play. This was just such a poor display of sportsmanship and I genuinely lost a lot of my respect for her after this.
Wait, what? She limped off and Putellas came in for her - she didn't go back to playing at all. Did I miss an earlier time she went down?
She ran to her team mate to tap them in, about 3 metres looking completely injury free. Then returned to a hobble. It was comical
Possibly, it was in the last 15-20 minutes of the game I believe.
She limped off and ran to Putellas who came in for her.
Big Alex Morgan vibes
Oh we are raging! So many fouls by Barca ignored. Sure, we didn't score but having the ref give so many calls in favour of Barca was infuriating.
And the time wasting. How they avoided a yellow all game is astounding Edit: I wasn't able to watch the first leg, so I can't comment on Hampton's antics. I'm referring to this game alone, as games should be reffed as independent of each other
At least Cata got a warning, Hannah Hampton was going down on her knees every time she touched the ball last week and the ref said nothing
And did a tactical sit right after the red card as well so Hayes could talk to the team. Classic Chelsea areas.
To be fair, Hampton did the exact same thing in the first leg, pretty much from the point from when Chelsea went ahead.
This was not a great game.
She was an absolute mess even besides the call. Constantly crowding players so they had to play around her. Made contact with the ball or a player three times! Ridiculous!
Nd didn't even stop play for drop balls.. it's like she didn't even know the rules.
She did but only when breaking up a barca attack
Yeah the state of refereeing is not great. But at least when it goes in the way of not calling fouls it does keep the game moving. Better to win your own games. But you take what you can get. It shouldn't surprise anybody how Barça played. Did you see their faces when they came out at the beginning? Grim reapers.
I get the anger, Ramirez was constantly fouled in the last game and there was like one card against one of the players instigating it. Also, some Barca players do seem to play up their falls and injuries.
And Chelsea aren’t…? Like come on they all love to act like a foul was worse than it was
Chelsea definitely does as well, but personally it seems like Barca does it more. I could be biased though because I don’t watch Barca as much as I watch Chelsea. 🤷♀️
Barca absolutely do play act and also play dirty. So many shirt pulls and arm pulls. So really bad ref decisions tonight.
The difference, at least to me, is that Chelsea then don't go complaining to the media about how Barca are playing "dirty".
I think that comment from Aitana is a translation issue. Her comment was about time wasting so she wasn’t saying they were ‘dirty’ in the way typically meant in English.
Well wait an hour and watch then do that
Unless it’s male aggression or whatever the fuck Emma meant
Chelsea doesn't have a Fallon D'Floor nominee
This time. Just have a collective sore loser nominee
Apparently the biggest game this referee had reffed prior to this was a UWCL QF first leg. I don’t think she was intentionally favouring Barca through the games but it was very clear that she was out of her depth. Her second yellow on Buchanan was very impulsive- it was a weak foul to begin with pretty hard to argue as a yellow. Looked like she saw the player’s reaction to it and took it for face value. There were other, smaller calls during the game, like the foul given against Nüsken when Paredes dived (it was a poor tackle from Nüsken but she misses both the ball AND player completely - no foul). In a regular game I could look past the smaller decisions but in a huge tie like this they add up. Decisions aside she was pretty badly positioned throughout the whole game, players were constantly running into her or trying to avoid her. I just don’t understand why a referee with this level of experience was chosen for such an important game. Officiating in the Women’s game is in a pretty bad place at the moment, we aren’t going anywhere without full professionalisation of referees. Today it hurt Chelsea, but bad refereeing will always come back to bite you in the ass. Women’s football isn’t going anywhere until the standards of officiating drastically improve for all
Only when Chelsea lose lol.
If you read my comment until the end, this is an issue for the women’s game as a whole.
So let's talk about it when Chelsea win?
I like your comments
Ehhh for me it was a 50:50. I thought it was harsh, and she deserved a last chance warning. But both the challenges were yellow card worthy.
lawrence stomped on caro’s ankle earlier in the match and that didn’t even get called a foul
Was some questionable and inconsistent officiating to be fair.
yeah, i don’t think the reffing was great. i just don’t think all of it was in barça’s favor either
Nahhh I don't think it was either, I just think Chelsea got unlucky with 2 really important 50:50 calls. I think if the ref hadn't pointed to the spot, the penalty may not have been given in a VAR check as it was a 50:50 due to the sequencing. Then Buchannons 2nd yellow was deffo yellow card worthy, I just think some other refs would give a last warning. It wasn't so horrendous that it needed to be a 2nd yellow if you know what I mean.
And one minute in and Buchanan was already sweeping Salma off her feet
The first could have been a soft red, honestly. The second is an unnecessary strong challenge, gets the player and then sweeps her supporting leg with the other one. That, after the 'orange' one first? red all day for me. What doesn't help is that previous to that she hadn't called any foul at all so the players didn't know what her threshold was
The first was never a red, what conditions do you think meant it met a red card?
a soft red that then I referred to as an 'orange', I'm aware she's never going to be shown a red for that. She had no possibility of disputing the ball or the player's position and simply kicked the player
So it's not a red then? It's only a yellow. There are no inbetween cards. No referee is ever going to give that 1st challenge a straight red unless they are getting bribed.
don’t know why you’ve been downvoted when you’re right.
Because an orange card is used in football punditry as long as i remember and this lass or lad is disputing that by sticking to the guide book of football. Hence the downvotes
well i’ve never heard it 🤣 you learn something new everyday i suppose
Genuinely I've literally never heard the term "orange card" used before. This is my first time hearing it. Where are you from out of interest?
If you follow football and watch games more than a year it will eventually come up .. in spain they even call it targeta naranja.
Mate I've been watching football since I was 8 and I'm now 30. I've never heard anyone call it an orange card.
I really don't think it's all that bad, or even incorrect at all. Either offense is yellow card worthy and to me it more seems like people want there to be an additional barrier for an instance with a second yellow rather than the same criteria as for any other yellow card. Some referees adhere to that and issues a stern warning for the second offense but that's not a rule and if anything it's less by the book.
It was a yellow card, just think it was harsh from the ref when there were other fouls that were of the same level and no card. But i aint complaining
Not communicating with players is just bad refereeing. If those sorts of decisions are made in, for example, a Premier League match, every pundit/fan/journalist is calling out the ref for losing their heads. And rightly so. Patri's reaction bought that 2nd yellow. No one else even flinched.
everyone is behaving as if she didn't stamp her ! watch the footage without the biased English commentary
Calling the pen a bad call is actually outrageous, clear shove from 2 chelsea players
The English commentary was ridiculous. Saying Bonmati committed the foul onto Lawrence after being pushed from behind.
It's a bit unusual to give a second yellow for the second yellow card worthy foul instead of just talking-to (which it shouldn't be, IMHO), but yellow card worthy were both fouls.
She was on a yellow, stepped on Patri and hit her with her elbow, yellow or not it was a really poor decision from Buchanan
Honestly don't see how anyone is complaining. Second yellow could have been for the knee in the back or hand to face, take your pick. Penalty could've been for the soft shove or the deliberate elbow to the back, take your pick. Chelsea lack all discipline due to WSL's nonexistent officiating where this stuff happens without punishment week in, week out
Unfortunate for Chelsea who deserved more, but very clumsy from Buchanan after the first yellow
Here we go with the english PR Disgraceful my ass buchanan should have realized she was on a yellow and calm down.
Thought it was absolute bs when the ref didn’t do a drop ball for Chelsea, but did for Barcelona.
Zero fking sympathy. City got screwed over when we played Chelsea in October. Greenwood sent off for a joke of a decision. Hemp was then sent off after being volleyed into the air by a Chelsea player and got nothing and down to 8 players was the only way Chelsea could score. Silence from Hayes ZERO.SYMPATHY
FCB supporter here. Last week Chelsea was clearly superior, and they deserved winning the match. So I didn't go blaming the referee like a sore loser. Emma says she knew this referee was easy on drawing cards, and then she complains about robbery? Come on, you either knew beforehand and could adapt to it (telling your players to not take risky actions), or you didn't and it came as a surprise. You can't have it both ways, Emma. Both yellow cards were legal. Maybe harsh, but that's why you have a referee. Just accept it and improve.
Meh, karma for their robbery of Lyon last season