Dortmund’s Bellingham calls Chelsea’s re-penalty ‘a joke’
Borussia Dortmund midfield player Jude Bellingham called ChelseaThe repeated penalty that threw his team out of the Champions League on Tuesday was a “joke”.
The round of 16 second leg at Stamford Bridge was tied 1-1 on aggregate, with the Blues winning 1-0 by a in the evening Raham Sterling target when Ben Chilwellcrossed Marius Wolf‘s hand early in the second half.
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Referee Danny Makkelle was sent to the monitor by VAR official Pol Van Boekel to review the incident and subsequently ruled on penalties Kai Havertz missed by hitting a post.
However, another VAR check revealed several Dortmund players had entered the penalty area before Havertz struck the ball, prompting Makkelle to order a replay that the Germany converted internationally to send his team to the quarterfinals of a 2:1 overall result.
“I’m not sure what else he can do with his hand,” Bellingham said after the game in the first handball round. “That in itself was disappointing and the fact that they had a rerun I think is a joke.
“For every penalty, especially when you start so slowly, people will enter the box by a meter or so. He made the decision and we have to live with that.”
When asked to elaborate on the post, Bellingham added, “I don’t want to get into any trouble. I’ve paid them well enough.”
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The result is a huge boost for the under-fire Chelsea boss Graham Potter, whose team, now claiming two wins for the first time since October, are in 10th place First League.
Potter has been criticized by a segment of Chelsea fans, saying: “In life you are bound to have bad times and good times. I see no other way to see it. How to respond to Bad Times, take a perspective and analyze them the right way. Things are never bad forever, but sometimes it felt like it!
“My job is to help the team, to help the players, to prepare the team as best as possible and to support them. They suffered too. Nobody enjoyed the run we had. That’s why today was important for us. We wanted to move forward and we did, so we’re happy.”
