Emre Can has said that the “arrogant” referee was to blame for Borussia Dortmund’s loss to Chelsea in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
The Blues came back from a 1-0 deficit in the first leg to beat Dortmund 2-0 at Stamford Bridge. Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz scored for the Blues.
But Can was angry after the game because he didn’t agree with the referee’s decision to give Kai Havertz a second chance at a penalty kick. Havertz scored the second goal from that shot. In a short interview after the game, the Dortmund midfielder also criticised how the referee handled the game.
Can said this to Amazon Prime: “We didn’t deserve to lose, but we lost because of the referee. Giving back the penalty to be retaken like that, how is it possible? I don’t understand. The referee has been very bad today. The way he spoke to us was arrogant.”
Chelsea was given a penalty kick in the second half because Marius Wolf had touched the ball inside the penalty box. Even though the referee didn’t give the penalty initially, VAR changed his mind.
Havertz’s first penalty kick hit the post, but after Salih Ozcan was found to have entered the box too early and then cleared the ball from the rebound, Chelsea was given a second chance to take the penalty, and the German international scored on the second try.
Chelsea hope to keep their momentum against Leicester City in the Premier League on March 11. Back-to-back wins against Leeds United and Dortmund have taken some pressure off of head coach Graham Potter.
