Exclusive: Chalobah’s handball ‘deliberate’ as ex-FIFA ref slams Chelsea escape
Trevoh Chalobah had VAR to thank after a penalty call was overturned in Chelsea’s win over Fluminense, according to Keith Hackett.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that referee Francois Letexier had not “committed a clear and obvious error” with his initial call.
Chelsea made relatively light work of a dangerous Fluminense side in the Club World Cup semi-final match-up between the two sides.
Liam Delap was suspended for the affair, and Nicolas Jackson’s form in a Blue shirt has been torrid recently, leading to Enzo Maresca choosing to start new signing Joao Pedro as a number nine.
And that decision paid dividends, as the Brazilian striker scored two delightful goals on either side of half-time against his boyhood club.
However, Chelsea can consider themselves rather fortunate after Letexier awarded a penalty in the 35th minute.
Chelsea avoid penalty after VAR intervene
With 35 minutes gone, a free-kick was swung in by left wing-back Rene, and Fluminense midfielder Hercules looked to have gotten the deftest of touches on the ball.
Bamboozled by the flight path of the ball, Chalobah stumbled backwards awkwardly with his hands down by his side, and the cross slammed into his left arm.
Letexier, without hesitation and with a perfect view of the incident, awarded a penalty to Fluminense, giving the Brazilians a way back into the tie with the score at 1-0.
However, despite the Frenchman’s confident decision, VAR quickly intervened to send the match official to the monitor, and as always seems to happen when the video assistant gets in the referee’s ear, the penalty was overturned after review.
Keith Hackett reviews Chalobah penalty incident
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, ex-PGMOL chief Hackett was scathing in his review of VAR after Letexier’s decision was overturned.
He said: “The player [Chalobah] had sight of the ball some distance away and his actions are, in my opinion, deliberate and [he] was correctly penalised with the award of a penalty kick.
“The referee had not committed a clear and obvious error, VAR should not have intervened.
“In the usual manner, sadly, the referee had his original decision overturned.”
Chelsea will now face the winner of PSG and Real Madrid’s semi-final on Sunday as they bid to claim the CWC crown for the second time in their history.