LONDON — Sonia Bompastor, the Chelsea head coach, launched a blistering attack on the standard of refereeing in their Women’s Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Arsenal, after she felt Katie McCabe escaped a red card for a hair pull on Alyssa Thompson.
Chelsea won 1-0 on the night through a late goal from Sjoeke Nüsken, but it was not enough to pin back Arsenal’s 3-1 lead from the first leg.
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Bompastor said ultimately Chelsea’s exit from the Champions League and Manchester City’s commanding lead in the WSL means this season must be regarded as a failure, but her immediate focus after the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday was on the standard of officiating.
The incident happened deep into injury time, and Bompastor said it clearly warranted McCabe being sent off. The Chelsea’s coach’s frustration saw her sent off by referee Frida Klarlund after being shown two yellow cards in quick succession.
“I was emotional because I think it’s clear for everyone and I think everyone could see the video,” Bompastor said. “One of my players had their hair pulled, and I can probably understand how sometimes a referee can’t see that, but why is the VAR not checking that situation? Why are they not going back to that?
“When you are playing football and someone pulls your hair, I don’t know if you have been in that position before, but it’s not nice at all. And at the end, again, I’m the one who gets a red card where I think the Arsenal player should be the one who gets a red card.
“And what is the VAR doing in these games? If we have the VAR, why are we not checking these situations? I don’t understand.”
The incident left Thompson in tears. “When you are playing football and someone pulls your hair, it’s bad,” Bompastor said. “Of course, she was crying and emotional with that situation and the result.”
McCabe posted a statement on her Instagram soon after the match: “I just want to clarify that I was genuinely reaching for the shirt, I wouldn’t ever want to pull someone’s hair. Full respect to Thompson.”
Arsenal coach Renée Slegers also backed McCabe’s version of events.
“I haven’t spoken to Katie, I’ve seen the incident back. I don’t think it’s deliberate. I think she tries to pull the shirt. Katie is very competitive. She wants to win, you see that in the way she plays, but for me she always plays fair. She would never do anything deliberately.”
But Bompastor dismissed that, saying: “I think the intention is clear. For me, she tried to grab the hair. And I think like for that reason, it’s clearly a red card.”
Bompastor was also furious with the officiating in their first leg defeat to Arsenal last week after Veerle Buurman had a goal disallowed in the first half at the Emirates for an alleged push on Laia Codina.
After this match on Tuesday, Bompastor brought up decisions made by the referee and VAR Katrin Rafalski which had gone against Chelsea in previous matches.
“I don’t think that’s good enough,” Bompastor said. “And I think I’m being really frustrated and upset, but my players deserve more respect for the performance they put on the pitch. I think they deserve a lot more respect.
“And I know like [UEFA head of women’s football] Nadine Kessler was here today to watch the game. And we need to do a better job. If they are happy with what happened in [the] first leg and tonight, I think that’s not good enough. They shouldn’t be happy about that. I think it’s clear for everyone.”
Ultimately, though, it’s Arsenal who progress and they’ll face the winner of OL Lyonnes‘ quarterfinal against VfL Wolfsburg.
For Chelsea, they’ll be left assessing a season where they still have the FA Cup to play for but they are out of the WSL title race and have exited the Champions League.
“I think, to be honest with you, yeah, our season is not good enough for the ambitions of the club,” Bompastor said. “I’m a manager who always gives clarity from the beginning of the season, saying we want to win the four titles. We have a lot of ambitions. So when I give you that clarity, I give you also the opportunity to question that.
“The reality is for a club like Chelsea, it’s not good enough for sure. And I’m not happy about the fact I can’t help the team more than what I did this season.”
But for Arsenal and Slegers, they now have a Champions League semifinal to prepare for.
“Very happy,” Slegers said. “It was a very hard scenario going into this game with a 2-0 lead. The three games before this game had been very tight with small margins. We were preparing for this again.
“So proud of the players, mostly from a mentality perspective — how they managed this game. Really proud of the mentality again.”
