McFarlane believes Chelsea were due penalty in FA Cup final defeat | OneFootball

Interim Chelsea manager Calum McFarlane believed that his side were due a penalty for a collision between Jorrel Hato and Abdukodir Khusanov in their 1-0 FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City.

It was a match riddled with penalty calls from the Blues, with Joao Pedro twice going to ground and seeing his appeals waived away by Darren England before Antoine Semenyo sealed the deal with an ingenious backheel late in the second half.

Managerless Chelsea, who have been said to have agreed a deal to bring in Xabi Alonso on a four-year contract to replace Liam Rosenior, came out fighting in the second half but did not muster enough in front of goal to find the equalizer.

Nevertheless, McFarlane remained adamant that his side should have been awarded a penalty as Hato and Khusanov came together inside the penalty area after the Dutch full-back went on a blistering run covering over 50 yards.

He said: “Congratulations to them first, but in terms of the penalty incidents, they’re tough calls, but for me the collision is a penalty. Jorrel gets in front, and its a collision in the back.

“If that’s anywhere else on the pitch, it’s a foul. Very similar to last week against Liverpool. Sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t.

“I felt we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world. I thought we had momentum at the end of the first half, at the start of the second half, we know what this team is capable of. They need to produce that on a consistent basis.”

The interim manager, who led the Blues for just the sixth time in his career, was also quizzed on Semenyo’s winner and he responded saying that there was nothing his team could have done to prevent it.

He added that he “wasn’t thinking about the occasion” of the FA Cup final, sharing his disappointment at his team not being able to bring home the trophy “that they deserve”.

As for what it would mean for a club of Chelsea’s stature to fail to qualify for Europe, the Englishman revealed that he “wasn’t privy” to such information and that his focus is solely on preparing his team to face Tottenham next Tuesday.