Uefa admit Chelsea were given unfair advantage against Ajax to progress to Champions League last-16

UEFA have reportedly claimed Chelsea were given an unfair advantage in their 4-4 draw with Ajax earlier this season. The Blues were 4-2 down after 68 minutes when Daley Blind and Joel Veltman were sent off in the space of minutes during the Champions League group stage clash last November. Chelsea ended up drawing the […]

UEFA have reportedly claimed Chelsea were given an unfair advantage in their 4-4 draw with Ajax earlier this season.

The Blues were 4-2 down after 68 minutes when Daley Blind and Joel Veltman were sent off in the space of minutes during the Champions League group stage clash last November.

AFP

Chelsea ended up drawing the game against Ajax’s nine men.

And the result put Frank Lampard’s men in pole position to qualify from the group as Ajax eventually dropped into the Europa League.

The Dutch champions maintain that ref Gianluca Rocchi made the wrong call to send off both Blind and Veltman in the same phase of play.

And according to De Telegraaf, Uefa have now claimed Rocchi did indeed make a mistake with his actions.

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A winter meeting between refs in Spain apparently concluded that the whistle should have gone after a heavy tackle by Blind.

But the ref allowed play to continue, resulting in Chelsea getting a penalty moments later as Veltman, who received a yellow for handling the ball in his own box, then talked himself into a red while Blind received a second yellow for the earlier challenge.

It’s reckoned VAR should have intervened in Veltman’s red card and reversed the decision, while also calling back the penalty to Blind’s original foul further up the field.

Things could have ended even worse for Ajax when Chelsea were controversially disallowed a winner due to an apparent handball by Tammy Abraham.

But there have still been calls for Ajax to demand £10million compensation from Uefa as a result.

It’s said they missed out on £9m by failing to qualify from the group, as well as £1m had they won at Stamford Bridge.

Ajax legend Sjaak Swart said: “Financial compensation seems to me to be in order.

“It’s really scandalous what happened there at Stamford Bridge. That referee was terrible.”

Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar added: “The decisions in that situation had so much influence on the game, and ultimately on the final standings in the group.

“That is a hopeless and therefore pointless mission.

“It is painful for us to confirm what we immediately suspected, namely that crucial mistakes have been made.

“In their reply, they referred, among other things, to Article 9 of the Rules.

“It states that Uefa authorities will no longer review arbitration decisions.”