LONDON (Reuters) – The decision to allow Kai Havertz to re-take his penalty was a “joke”, Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham said after Chelsea knocked the German club out of the Champions League on Tuesday.
Dortmund won the first leg at home 1-0 but a first-half goal by Raheem Sterling and a controversial penalty by Havertz handed them a 2-0 defeat in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday as they crashed out of the last 16 2-1 on aggregate.
Chelsea were given a penalty in the second half after a cross from Ben Chilwell smacked into the outstretched hand of Dortmund defender Marius Wolf.
Havertz hit the post from the spot but the penalty was re-taken after VAR alerted the referee that Dortmund players had encroached into the area. In his second try, Havertz went on to score, sending Chelsea into the quarter-finals.
“I’m not sure what more he can do with his hand,” Bellingham told BT Sport, referring to Wolf. “That in itself was disappointing and the fact that they’ve had a retake, I think it’s a joke.
“For every penalty, especially when you have such a slow run-up, there’s going to be people encroaching into the box by a yard or so. He has made the decision and we have to live with it.”
Dortmund coach Edin Terzic said his team would refrain from complaining.
“If a decision takes about five or six minutes then it’s not easy to make a call,” Terzic said.
“But as the manager of the team, I’m responsible for the performance of the team and staff, but not the performance of the referee. We didn’t speak about the referee a lot last week and we won’t start with that tonight.”
(Reporting by Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert Birsel)
