Gabby Agbonlahor labelled the lack of intervention from VAR over Katie McCabe’s blatant hair pull on Alyssa Thompson ‘disrespectful’.
Arsenal star McCabe was fortunate to remain on the field after she yanked the hair of Chelsea’s Thompson.
5
The incident occurred late in the second leg of Arsenal’s Women’s Champions League quarter-final tie against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
With Chelsea pushing to get back into the tie having lost the first leg 3-1, Thompson attempted to break away down Arsenal’s left side.
Luck of the Irish?
Although she briefly escaped McCabe’s clutches, the Irish ace wasn’t about to let Thompson get past her completely.
In a desperate attempt to stop Thompson, McCabe pulled the Chelsea star’s hair.
The pulling of an opponent’s hair is often deemed a red card offence, evidenced when Paris Saint-Germain’s Joao Neves was sent off for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair during the Club World Cup final in July.
Everton defender Michael Keane also received the same punishment when he was adjudged to have pulled the hair of Wolves striker Tolu Arokodare.
Despite the precedent set by those two incidents, no foul was given against McCabe, let alone a booking, as VAR opted not to intervene.
Bompastor goes ballistic
The lack of punishment for McCabe left Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor apoplectic on the sideline.
Bompastor’s protests quickly earned her a yellow card, although it wasn’t long before she received a second one and was subsequently sent to the stands at Stamford Bridge.
The 45-year-old continued to vent her frustrations during a post-match interview as she replayed the incident via her phone live on air.
5
5
“I brought the phone with me, I don’t know if you can see that,” Bompastor said.
“But if you look at this video, for me it’s clearly the red card for the Arsenal player. She’s pulling Alyssa’s hair.
“So I think for me, if the VAR again is not able to check that situation, I don’t know why we have the VAR.”
McCabe clarifies ugly incident
McCabe later addressed the incident on social media, posting on Instagram: “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.”
The unsavoury scene was later discussed by Agbonlahor, Ally McCoist and Angelina Kelly on eSPORTY Breakfast, with all three in agreement McCabe should have been sent off.
“I think VAR went and made a coffee and missed it,” Agbonlahor said.
5
“You can’t tell me you’re watching that and you’re not saying, ‘Come and look at the screen, it’s a definite red card.’ It’s disrespectful.”
McCoist added: “There’s something just not right about that.”
Kelly, who is a regular fixture at various WSL games, said: “I’ve spoken to Sonia Bompastor quite a lot, I cover a lot of Chelsea in the WSL. I have never seen her that angry, and rightly so.”
Unfortunately for Bompastor and the Blues, her sending off won’t matter given Chelsea failed to overturn the 3-1 deficit on the night.
Sjoeke Nusken’s stoppage-minute goal helped the Blues to a 1-0 victory in the second leg but it ultimately proved to be a consolation in the grand scheme of things.
Defeat to Arsenal meant Chelsea’s agonising wait for a maiden Women’s Champions League title would continue for at least another season.
5
Blues’ bad luck continues
Speaking to UEFA after the contest, Blues defender Lucy Bronze lamented the team’s inability to make the most of their many chances.
“We were close, but that’s the difference in the Champions League, you have to be clinical,” Bronze said.
“We left ourselves with a lot of work to do after the first leg. We still believed in ourselves and had the chances but we hit the post too many times rather than the back of the net.”
Bronze’s teammate Keira Walsh added: “We probably had enough to go through, we just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net nearly enough.
“All we could do was give our best. I guess that’s football, it is about who scores and they did that more than us.
“Maybe it’s just learning to stay in the game a bit longer before playing at home. We could have put ourselves in a better position. We know we’re strong at Stamford Bridge.”
Arsenal’s win over Chelsea books them a spot in the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League, where they will face either Wolfsburg or Lyon.
