Chelsea complaints over disallowed goal ignore soft free-kick and missed red card for horrific ‘challenge’.
If you pick up today’s papers, most of the coverage of Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Chelsea in the first leg of the Champions League quarter final at the Emirates focuses on Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor complaining about the VAR call that ruled out her side’s first goal for a very slight touch on an Arsenal defender.
There is no doubt that the decision to rule Veerle Buurman’s goal, scored with a header after a free-kick and ruled out on the pitch by the referee before VAR backed up that decision, was a poor one.
![Bompastor: Use refs from men’s game Women’s Champions League, quarter-final first leg Kit Shepard Arsenal 3 Blackstenius 22, Kelly 32, Russo 76 Chelsea 1 James 66 The Chelsea head coach, Sonia Bompastor, said there was a lack of respect for women’s football after her team were controversially disallowed a goal in their defeat by Arsenal. Veerle Buurman, the Chelsea defender, headed in a looping ball from close range in the 40th minute with Arsenal leading 2-0. However, the Romanian referee, Alina Pesu, disallowed the goal for a foul by Buurman on Laia Codina, and the VAR, Ovidiu Hategan, upheld the decision. Replays indicated this was a poor call. Buurman’s hand was barely on Codina’s shoulder, and no Arsenal players appealed for a foul. Bompastor was irate and remained frustrated after Chelsea were defeated. “It’s not good enough,” the Frenchwoman said. “We really need to find solutions. When you are playing in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, you need to respect the women’s game more, because the players work hard every week to put in a good performance on the pitch. “It [Buurman’s disallowed goal] is a goal. I don’t see with the VAR how you cannot allow that goal. When a human makes a mistake, I think you can understand a little bit more. But when there is the VAR, it’s really difficult [to accept].” This was one of the biggest games in English women’s club football history, and Bompastor suggested that such an occasion needed the best referees, even if they work in the men’s game. “We deserve the best referees, so bring in the best,” Bompastor said. “If they have to come from the men’s game, maybe. We need to bring competence, which is the most important.” Arsenal, the European champions, took a 2-0 lead through goals from Stina Blackstenius and Chloe Kelly, before Lauren James’s outrageous chip from 30 yards halved the deficit. Alessia Russo’s emphatic volley in the 76th minute means Arsenal take a two-goal lead to the second leg on Wednesd](https://dailycannon.com/static/uploads/1/2026/03/260325-times-arsenal-chelsea-1024x498.png "Chelsea manager cries about VAR after Arsenal defeat 3")
The touch was minimal and Laia Codina did her best to buy the foul. I accept that.
What has not been mentioned in the reports that have followed is that it should not have been a free-kick in the first place. The foul was given when a Chelsea player simply sat down on the pitch after feeling even less contact than Codina had felt from Buurman.
“It’s always more difficult to complain about the referees when you lose the game, but it’s not good enough,” Bompastor said.
“When you are playing the quarter-final of the Champions League you need to respect the women’s game more. You need to respect the players because they work hard every week to put a good performance on the pitch.
“The first goal is a goal. I don’t see with the VAR how you cannot allow that goal. It’s always the same. When you go to them and you ask them to check and to make sure they make the right decision, they just always say ‘Yeah, we are checking’ but they make the wrong decision and nothing changes.
“When a human makes a mistake, I think you can understand a little bit more, but when there is the VAR, it’s really difficult.”
There has also been little-to-no mention of the blatant red card Chelsea should have received when they had a second goal ruled out towards the end of the game.
As the ball floated towards Anneke Borbe in the Arsenal goal, Kadeisha Buchanan stretched out her leg to reach it, then straightened that leg and drove her studs into the chest of the Arsenal keeper.
It was an horrific challenge that should have seen Buchanan sent off and handed a three-game ban, which would have ruled her out of the return leg at Stamford Bridge next week.
The red card did not come, nor did any analysis in the papers of what Buchanan had done, the danger she had put an opponent in or how Chelsea benefited from the fact the referee, and VAR, chose to leave her on the pitch without so much as a caution, thus avoidng a ban.
Bompastor has done well in one sense, she has managed to drag the conversation away from how her side were wasteful in front of goal and how Arsenal, with three brilliant goals, the pick of them Chloe Kelly’s effort from about 25 yards, made a major statement against the outgoing WSL champions.
“We deserve the best referees, so bring the best. If it has to be men coming from the men’s game or if it is the best women from the women’s game, we need to make these decisions because it’s really frustrating,” Bonpastor continued.
“We need to have the VAR in the women’s game but the right people to check the situations and be able to make the right decisions.”
Yes, Sonia, we do indeed, and if that had been in place, you would be going into the second leg with Buchanan suspended.