Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham called Chelsea’s retaken penalty, which knocked his team out of the Champions League on Tuesday, a “joke.”
The round-of-16 second leg at Stamford Bridge was finely poised at 1-1 on aggregate with the Blues winning 1-0 on the night through a Raheem Sterling goal when Ben Chilwell’s cross struck Marius Wolf’s hand early in the second half.
Referee Danny Makkelle was sent to the monitor by VAR official Pol Van Boekel to review the incident and subsequently awarded a spot kick, which Kai Havertz missed by hitting the post.
However, another VAR review found several Dortmund players had encroached into the penalty area before Havertz had struck the ball, prompting Makkelle to order a retake, which the Germany international converted to send his team into the quarterfinals by a 2-1 aggregate score.
“I’m not sure what more he can do with his hand,” Bellingham said after the match of the initial handball call. “That in itself was disappointing and the fact that they’ve had a retake, I think it’s a joke.
The result is a huge boost for under-fire Chelsea head coach Graham Potter, whose team, which has now recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since October, sits 10th in the Premier League.
“My job is to help the team, help the players, prepare the team as well as we could and to support them. They’ve been suffering as well. Nobody has enjoyed the run we’ve had. That’s why today was important for us. We wanted to progress, and we have, so we’re happy.”
