José Mourinho did not have much to say in his post-match press conferences, but he did repeatedly summarise the game with four crucial moments. The Chelsea manager quoted: “I prefer to say that this game had four crucial moments – minutes 30, 33, 43 and 69 – this is the story of the game. It’s difficult for me to not say the truth. I’m making it easy for you because you can go home, look at those moments and you will know what I think about the game.”
Minute 30
Branislav Ivanovic and Burnley striker Ashley Barnes both went up for an aerial challenge, the latter being more keen to inflict pain on Ivanovic rather than to win the ball. Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer commented:
“Ashley Barnes goes up for the header with Ivanovic, he leads with his foot and he’s very fortunate. You can see he kicks out with his studs into the back of the hamstring and that should be a yellow card.” That challenge alone should have most certainly been a yellow card, yet nothing was given.
Minute 33
Juan Cuadrado teed up oncoming fullback Branislav Ivanovic for a shot near the edge of the area. However, the shot was only able to travel five yards after being struck by the boot of the Serbian, as it was impeded by the outstretched left arm of Burnley’s Michael Kightly. The incident was ignored by Martin Atkinson, the referee. Shearer commented:
“That’s blatant handball by Michael Kightly. The referee’s got a brilliant view, he’s about 10 yards away. Kightly turns his back and sticks his arm out, it has to be a penalty”. Robbie Savage, also on Match of the Day, said, “He’s made himself bigger, his arm is in an unnatural position in order to save a shot which is going on target. It’s a penalty”.
Minute 43
Diego Costa, cutting in onto his left foot, was blatantly pushed to the ground within the penalty area by Claret captain Jason Shackell. For the second time in the match, a clear penalty was not given by the referee. Shearer explained:
“Shackell loses the ball and tries to make up for his error but he catches everything. He shoves him, gets his legs caught up in his and you can see by Costa’s reaction what he thinks of it. It should be a penalty.” In addition, Savage noted, “The ref was in a great position once again. Chelsea have been hard done by today“.
Minute 69
All of the controversy culminated in minute sixty-nine, which was without a doubt the turning point of the match. Ashley Barnes went in for an extremely late and potentially season-ending tackle on Nemanja Matić, going studs up into the shin of the Serbian. The Chelsea midfielder’s leg seemed to bend upon impact, a scary sight indeed. Lucky to not have his leg broken, Matić sprung up and forcefully shoved Barnes to the ground, prompting referee Martin Atkinson to produce a red card. After all was done and dusted, the offender Ashley Barnes shockingly remained unpunished. Both MOTD pundits were outraged by the situation. Shearer:
“It’s a horrific tackle, it really is. It’s dangerous, it’s naughty and it’s terrible. I understand Matić’s reaction, it’s not right but I understand it because he could have had his leg broken. It’s a terrible tackle and for that, Matić is going to miss the cup final next week, which is a disaster for him and Chelsea. It really is a terrible and naughty tackle, he could easily have broken Matić’s leg. He [Ashley Barnes] doesn’t even get a yellow card in the game at all”. Savage: “He should have been booked for the first challenge [in the thirtieth minute] and that should have been a straight red for Ashley Barnes. Alan’s right, Matić is lucky he’s not out for six or seven months. Mourinho’s right, Chelsea were hard done by today.”
José Mourinho believed that what happened in the sixty-ninth minute tied together with what happened in the thirtieth: “Minute 69 has a big relation to minute 30. Normally the player [Ashley Barnes], if I can call him a player, who was involved in minute 69, and was also involved in minute 30, should be in the shower by minute 31. So there would be no minute 69 if the person in charge [Martin Atkinson] dealt with minute 30 in a proper way”. I most certainly could not have said it better myself.
After the incident, Ramires was brought on for Oscar in order to fill the defensive midfield position vacated by Matić’s early departure. About ten minutes later, Burnley equalized from a corner kick through Ben Mee. “Who was marking Mee as he almost incontestably headed home?” one might ask. The answer is Ramires. Oh, the irony. You really cannot make this stuff up. Had the significantly taller Nemanja Matić been on the pitch to defend that corner, we may have had a different outcome.
With just nine minutes to play plus added time, Sean Dyche’s men, as you’d expect, sat in their own penalty box and defended until the final whistle. During the four minutes of added time Ben Mee, Burnley’s goal scorer, went down injured for a few minutes. However the final whistle was still blown right around the 94th minute mark, capping off a fantastically fair and generous performance from referee Martin Atkinson.
Saturday’s match was always going to be a difficult one for Chelsea after playing a gruelling ninety minutes of Champions League football in Paris on Tuesday, and the poor quality of the officiating only made it harder for the Blues. A tired and lacklustre performance from Chelsea off the back of their midweek away fixture still resulted in a 1-0 lead after just fourteen minutes, and could have resulted in a 2-0 lead after thirty three minutes, and could have resulted in a comfortable 3-0 lead after forty-three minutes, had two separate penalty appeals been rightly given. The incident in the sixty-ninth minute and Ben Mee’s goal in the eighty-first minute would have held no significance in terms of the final outcome of the match.
However, what’s happened has happened and I see no point in sitting back and dwelling on the “what-ifs”. Chelsea have dropped two points and Manchester City responded with a nearly perfect performance, demolishing Newcastle 5-0 and cutting the gap between first and second place in the Barclays Premier League to five points. To make matters even worse for the west-Londoners, Nemanja Matić, one of Chelsea’s most important players, will miss the League Cup final a week from today through suspension.
Overall, there is one thing I’ve learned after Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Burnley. I may not have previously bought into this “Campaign against Chelsea”, but I most certainly do now.
You can hear more from Evan on Twitter @ChelseaBlueUSA.
