Hayes says her side were ‘robbed’ against Barcelona in the semi-final (Picture: Getty)
Emma Hayes has hit out at referee Iuliana Demetrescu after Chelsea’s Champions League semi-final defeat to Barcelona, branding her decision to send off Kadeisha Buchanan ‘the worst’ in the competition’s history.
The west Londoners led 1-0 from the first leg but lost 2-0 in front of a sold-out Stamford Bridge on Saturday night, with goals from Aitana Bonmati and Fridolina Rolfo seeing the holders progress to another final.
But the match was not without controversy, with Demetrescu criticised for two big decisions which both went in the favour of Barca; the first saw Buchanan shown a very soft second yellow card, before Bonmati won an equally debateable spot-kick.
The video assistant review reviewed the penalty decision but did not overturn the on-field call, while the VAR was powerless to intervene over the yellow card for Buchanan.
Hayes, who saw her hopes of reaching the Women’s Champions League final in her final season at the club dashed, was clearly furious afterwards and could be seen mouthing the words ‘we’ve been robbed’ when the full-time whistle was blown.
She did not hold back in her post-match press conference either, slamming referee Demetrescu and even claiming the dismissal of Buchanan will go down as the worst decision in the competition’s history.
‘In the second half I felt we were just coming on top and you could see the combinations, the crowd and the players were driving us, and the players felt really confident,’ explained Hayes.
‘So when you get such a shocking official decision, there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s hard enough when we’ve got 11 against them, but when you’ve got 10 it’s virtually impossible.
Hayes was fuming after Chelsea’s defeat to Barcelona (Picture: Getty)
‘Even Barcelona players said to us they knew the referee was helpful for them. I didn’t think it was a foul [from Buchanan] let alone a yellow card.
‘I didn’t feel we got the opportunity to lose the game, that was taken away. I was surprised when I saw her [Demetrescu] selected because she’s famous for easy cards and I think that that is probably the worst decision in UEFA Women’s Champions League history.
‘I’m gutted for the players, we were robbed.
‘I genuinely believe we were on top in the game, we’d just hit the post, I could feel the momentum going in that direction. But we didn’t have a chance to experience that, so all the talking is about that.
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‘You need everything to go your way, they got two yellow cards, a deflection and a penalty. Everything went their way and everything didn’t go our way tonight.’
Hayes continued: ‘I was stood there and I looked at the fourth official and I said, “Surely that will be checked?” and she said, “It can’t on a yellow”.
‘But as I said, I think the toughest thing to take is that we didn’t lose it. There’s nothing you can do when there’s such a terrible decision and it’s already hard enough. They are a top team. When that’s taken out of your hands, that’s a tough one to take for the players.’
On the penalty, she added: ‘I thought it was equally soft, but she’s an amazing player Bonmati. Because Ash [Ashley Lawrence] is on the outside of her, Bonmati is clever, she leaves her leg there.’
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