Chelsea manager and right-back were left fuming with the referees after Sadio Mane’s reckless elbow lunge did not get him sent off in Sunday’s Premier League encounter against Liverpool (2-2).
Tuchel’s side played out a sensational four-goal draw against the Reds at the Stamford Bridge, a game that saw the hosts crawl back from a two-goal deficit to level up the scores. There was no shortage of talking points in the game, but the one that made a lot of headlines was Mane’s first-minute challenge on Cesar Azpilicueta.
The Senegalese winger tried to win an aerial ball on the left flank inside Chelsea’s half just 15 seconds into the game, and when he came one-on-one with the right-back Azpilicueta, Mane’s elbow challenge saw the Chelsea man take a tumble.
Although referee Antony Taylor was quick to spot and caution the Liverpool man with a yellow card, a lot of pundits, not to mention the many Chelsea fans, deemed that to be a red.
Another thing to note here was the VAR’s remark on the incident, saying
“Mane’s action was reckless, but not violent”.
Elbow challenges often cost players further time on the pitch, and it comes as no surprise that the Blues were left frustrated.
Tuchel was left fuming by the fact that VAR has not been helpful to his team for the second game running. After highlighting his admiration and respect for Mane, Tuchel said that he should not have stayed on the pitch.
“If you remember the first game with the same referee and how quick it was to give a red card to us, I am not a friend of early red cards. I hate to say it because I love Mané and he is a nice guy and top player, but it is a red card.
The elbow is in the face — it doesn’t matter if you do this after 20 seconds or 20 minutes. We come from a game against Brighton where we miss VAR calls in the box, and suddenly VAR is checking a goal against Kovačić,”
the German said after the game.
Azpilicueta echoed the same sentiments on air, highlighting the inconsistent nature of VAR and said that it was a red regardless of it coming just 15 seconds into the game.
He pointed out how the referees end up giving away soft penalties in one game, and then they let go of incidents like these, which clearly is an infuriating sign for the players involved.
