15 hours ago
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Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenberg has given his verdict on the goal scored by Enzo Fernandez that was disallowed for handball. The Argentine reacted quickest to a ball put across the box by Wesley Fofana but it was deemed the latter used his arm to take control of possession.
Clattenberg was quickly brought in by Amazon Prime to share his thoughts on the incident. He said: "The referee, as the ball went in, he quickly whistled to tell everyone its handball. This will be checked by VAR of course.
"It is an interesting one because he's [Fernandez] not the direct scorer, if they deem it is accidental, it should be given as he did not score."
A swift VAR check saw officials on the technology agree with the referee and it deemed that Fofana using his hand was not accidental.
Just moments later, Ferran Torres should have put Barcelona in front but the former Manchester City man dragged his shot wide from close range. Despite the Blues starting better, the quality of Hansi Flick's side was on full display in the opening stages.
Ahead of the clash, Enzo Maresca addressed exactly that with the Chelsea boss full of praise.
He said: "I think they're spectacular, it's a team that whenever I look at it there are things that can be learned, things that can be looked at, how they attack, how they defend, which in the end has given them the chance to win La Liga last year, to get to the Champions League semi-final.
"They do a lot of things very well and it's a team that always wants initiative, always wants value and we try to do the same on our side."
Chelsea certainly have their own strengths though with Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho able to get in behind early on. Estevao Willian was also causing problems in the first half.
Maresca made several changes for the clash with the visit of Arsenal arriving this weekend in what is a huge week for Chelsea to prove their qualities.
The Chelsea boss said: "It's a big week, as you said, but at the end of this week, then we have Leeds away, Bournemouth away, Atalanta away, so it's another big one.
"It's always a big week, they are all important games, at the end of every game is three points, for sure there are games like Barcelona tomorrow and Arsenal Sunday that are important for different reasons, but actually the best thing for us is to win the game."
English (US) ·