Chelsea have made a formal complaint about the ‘inappropriate language’ allegedly used by referee Mark Clattenburg to two of their players during the controversial 3-2 home defeat to Manchester United.
The dramatic development, which came after a stormy top of the table clash at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, will add fire to Wednesday evening when the two sides meet again in London in the League Cup.
Meanwhile, Clatterburg has been suspended for the weekend game as the Football Association investigates the allegations.
“We have lodged a complaint to the Premier League match delegate with regard to inappropriate language used by the referee and directed at two of our players in two separate incidents during today’s match,” said a Chelsea statement. “The match delegate will pass the complaint to the football association. We will make no further comment at this time.”
The complaint came after a highly-charged encounter in which Clattenburg dismissed two Chelsea players before Javier Hernandez secured the points for United with a goal that Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo insisted should have been ruled out for offside. Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres were sent off but it was the decision of Clattenburg to issue Torres a second yellow card for diving after a challenge by Jonny Evans that was the focus of much of Di Matteo’s frustration.
“He played the ball between his legs, then he gets kicked on his shin and goes down — it’s as simple as that,” said
Di Matteo.
“It’s a free-kick for us and might even be a sending off for Evans as he is through to the goal. I was shocked. I have spoken to the referee. Surely when he’s going to watch the images he’s going to realise that he made big mistakes.”
Gerrard slams referee decisions in Merseyside derby
Meanwhile, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard slammed the decision to deny his side a last-gasp winner against archrivals Everton at Goodison Park in a match that ended 2-2.
The Reds appeared to have secured victory when Luis Suarez netted in the 94th minute but the celebrations were curtailed by the offside flag.
“I’ve seen it again and we can feel sorry ourselves because it was a clear goal,” Gerrard told The Liverpool Echo.
“We should be taking away the three points rather than just one. There is no offside and it’s difficult for me to explain it.
“The only person who can explain it is the linesman. I asked him after the game if it was offside and he said ‘I think so’. That’s not good enough. If every decision in this league is based on ‘we think so’ then we’re in trouble.”
In other matches on Sunday, Tottenham Hotspurs registered a 2-1 against newly-promoted side Southampton while Newcastle beat West Brom 2-1.
Roberto Di Matteo
“I was shocked with the decisions. I have spoken to the referee. Surely when he’s going to watch the images he’s going to realise that he made big mistakes.”
Steven Gerrard
“I asked the referee if it was offside and he said ‘I think so’. That’s not good enough. If every decision in this league is based on ‘we think so’ then we’re in trouble.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2012.
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