Chelsea may have held Manchester United to a goalless draw at Old Trafford, but Blues boss Frank Lampard was left frustrated after VAR failed to overturn the decision not to give his side a penalty during the Old Trafford clash.
Lampard made clear his frustration after the match following an incident where Blues skipper Cesar Azpilicueta was grabbed by United captain Harry Maguire as the pair challenged for a header in the penalty area.
The incident wasn’t penalized by the referee, and even though the video assistant referee (VAR) reviewed the incident, no decision was made to award the London side a penalty.
“I thought it was a clear penalty. I couldn’t see it at the time from where I was standing and those ones are hard calls for the referee,” said Lampard after the match.
“It’s why we brought VAR into the game, but VAR was very quick to dismiss it.
“They should have taken time and advised the referee to look at the monitor. If he watches the monitor, he has to give the penalty, so it’s confusing. There’s a frustration because the rules seemed to be moving in the right direction.
“The referees were looking at the monitor a bit more at the start of the season. The person on the pitch should always take first responsibility and that was given back to them with the monitor.”
However, Chelsea’s performance was enough to frustrate United, who remain winless at home this season. United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said his team missed the energy of the United crowd, but said there were positives to take from the game, especially given the fact that he was able to give new signing Edinson Cavani his first runout in United colors.
“He showed in glimpses what he can do,” enthused the Norwegian boss.
“He’ll give us a presence in the box. He’s an experienced center forward, and the more we get the ball into him in and around the box we’ll get goals from him.”
News Source : Parimatch news
