Sonia Bompastor fumes as power outage stops play for nine minutes in Chelsea’s draw with Barcelona | OneFootball

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor was unhappy that play was paused for nine minutes in their draw with Barcelona due to a power outage

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor was left fuming after a power outage caused a nine-minute break in play during their 1-1 draw with Barcelona.

The hosts were just building momentum with the score 1-1 when a technical fault at Stamford Bridge brought the match to a halt.

In near-freezing temperatures, all communication systems suddenly cut inside the stadium, including the BBC and Disney+ live streams.

The UEFA stream used for VAR also went down, forcing the game to stop just before half-time.

ESPN has reported that the generators that power the technology went down, causing the power outage.

Sonia Bompastor and Chelsea legend question why play stopped during power outage

Chelsea boss Sonia Bompastor was clearly frustrated after her side’s 1-1 draw with Barcelona, hitting out at the power outage which stopped play for nearly 10 minutes.

The Chelsea manager questioned why play was stopped, claiming that it is the first time she has seen that happen.

“It was really frustrating, we were in a really good momentum, when this comes from something you can’t control, I think, at this level, it’s not good enough,” Bompastor told a news conference.

“I don’t know if this has happened in the men’s game but that’s the first time I’ve seen that.”

Former Chelsea forward Fran Kirby, who was on Radio 5 Live, also questioned the decision to stop the match for broadcast issues.

She said: “As a player, it is a bit strange to see a game stopped because the cameras are not working.

“Of course, we want people to enjoy it and watch it from home, but ultimately, the players are on the pitch and you have to let the game go.

“The players won’t want to be standing around on a cold night like this.”

Chelsea boss Bompastor “not sure” if VAR was working against Barcelona

Although the power outage was fixed and play resumed, Chelsea boss Bompastor admitted she was not sure if VAR was working during the second-half of their clash with Barcelona.

Catarina Macario had the ball in the net but her goal was ruled out for offside. Bompastor though felt as though the goal should have stood.

“To be honest with you I’m not even sure if the VAR was on in the second half. As you could see, in the first half we had almost a 10-minute break, the TV went off,” she said.

She added: “In the second half I’m not even sure the VAR was on. I think the VAR was off so they didn’t have any screen to check the VAR so I think this was the reason why.”

BBC apologise after power outage

The BBC had to apologise to viewers due to the power outage at Stamford Bridge.

Viewers on BBC 2 and iPlayer were shown a blank screen and an error message reading: “We are sorry for the break in this programme and are trying to correct the fault.”

However, it became clear that it was not a BBC-specific issue but something bigger as the Disney+ stream also cut out.

Fans at home would have been happy to see that the game was paused. However, those inside the stadium were left frustrated due to the break in play.

Chelsea were the better side on the day and managed to end their losing run against the Spanish side, although they didn’t take all three points.

Ellie Carpenter had given Chelsea the lead with a brilliant finish, before Ewa Pajor equalised eight minutes later.

Chelsea felt as though they could have grabbed a second goal before the power outage stopped play. Ultimately, the sides shared the spoils, with Barcelona now sitting top of the League Phase with 10 points, and Chelsea two points behind in sixth.