Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain played a thrilling game at the Stamford Bridge in the Round of 16 in the Champions League. One of the biggest stories of this game was the excruciatingly bad officiating, but PSG still managed to pull off the unthinkable draw in extra time and advance on away goals.
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The madness began in the 31st minute as Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off on a horrible straight red card. Ibrahimovic went in on a 50/50 challenge and was sent off on a play that should’ve garnered a yellow card at worst.
Despite PSG playing down a man, Chelsea struggled to gain a significant advantage in the match. It all almost boiled over when Edinson Cavani beat the offside trap, dribbled around the keeper, but stumbled with the ball and rushed a sharp angle shot that hit off the post.
Chelsea continued to skirt by as PSG held a fair amount of possession for a team down a man. With how exciting this game was, the first goal did not even come until the 81st minute when Gary Cahill laced after a deflected set piece landed at his feet to give Chelsea the goal they needed.
Newcastle Toons
Then, PSG pulled it off.
David Luiz scored on a header in the 86th minute to pull the game even in the game, aggregate and away goals. The game went into extra time and Thiago Silva had a mental lapse and went up in the air with his hands up and was called for the handball in the box to give Chelsea the penalty kick. Eden Hazard picked the correct side and gave Chelsea the lead again with about 25 minutes remaining in extra time.
After PSG’s corner was saved just barely, they took another crack at it and Silva hit a magnificent header that floated in to give PSG the advantage on away goals and send Chelsea home disgruntled.
The officiating was terrible from start to finish. Zlatan should not have been sent off, Chelsea should’ve had a penalty kick during regular time, Diego Costa’s challenge late in regular time could have warranted a red card. If the referee didn’t have his back turned, he would’ve sent off Costa for blatantly shoving a PSG player to the ground after play was halted. Referees have assistants and they didn’t do their job today, either. There were a few blown offside calls that could have changed the complexion of the game.
Top to bottom, the officiating was awful.
Both teams have something to complain about in that department, with PSG making even more of a case that they were hard done by today.
In the end, it is PSG that will advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.
Next: Chelsea v Paris St. Germain: Goals Scored