Enzo Maresca insists Jonathan Tah should have been sent off for his foul on Joao Pedro during Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday evening.
Chelsea went behind in Munich following Trevoh Chalobah’s own goal before Harry Kane doubles Bayern’s lead from the penalty spot.
Cole Palmer found the net for Chelsea before the break but Maresca was furious when Tah received a yellow card for clashing with Pedro in the build-up to the goal.
Tah has denied elbowing Pedro during the incident off the ball and Maresca claims Spanish referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez did not issue a red card to the Bayern defender because it was deemed ‘not aggressive enough’.
‘For me it’s a clear red card, yeah,’ Maresca said.
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‘I have said, also in the Premier League, when there is no intention to go for the ball, just an intention to kick another player, why is it not a red card?
‘The referee said to me because it was not hard or aggressive enough. But in any case you try, so to give a red card they need to see blood or something?
‘If the intention it’s a red card, for me it is not any doubt.’
Asked if the result would have changed if Tah was sent off, Maresca replied: ‘Personally, I’m happy with the performance because we knew how difficult it was to come here against this team.
‘We knew it was a very tough game, difficult game, but overall I think we competed very well, the first 20 minutes again we didn’t concede anything, we created two, three clear chances then we conceded a goal and it changed a little bit, but even with that we were in the game until the end.
‘For sure, it’s very difficult to think you can come here and control the game for 95, 100 minutes. This is not a reality.’
Vincent Kompany, meanwhile, believes Bayern and Tah had a strong case to call a foul on Pedro’s holding during the incident.
‘I wanted a foul the other way, I thought he got fouled, but I might be biased,’ Kompany said.
‘I thought his shirt got pulled and I felt he was trying to free himself. He gwas getting turned so in that moment as a defender your natural instinct is you want to try to shake him off.
‘I don’t want to discuss the face too much. It’s definitely not, in my opinion, that big of an event in that sense.’
When asked about the clash with Pedro, Tah said after the game: ‘If I had hit him [Pedro] in the face then yes. But no. I can understand the yellow card, it was the right decision.’
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