They gutted us, VAR is hurting the Premier League. The video took a sensational turn for Chelsea

What caused the controversy at Villa Park on Saturday night?

The visitors from London took a corner in the 95th minute, after which Diego Carlos and Badiashile fought at the back post. The Chelsea shot-stopper made clever use of his superior position, pushing the opponent to get to the ball, which he sent onto the head of the scoring Disasi.

The referee was standing a few meters from the intervention, he had a very good view of it. It was not a confusing situation in which a flagrant violation of the rules would occur. Badiashile did not use his hands. The fight could easily be included in the boys’ category, which is tolerated especially on the islands.

After all, even the home team wasn’t too angry that the referee’s whistle didn’t sound. It sounded only tens of seconds later, when referee Pawson postponed the play-off and rushed to the monitor, where he was called by VAR to check.

“The referee didn’t see the foul, but then he goes to VAR to change the decision,” explained coach Pochettino. Immediately after the disallowed goal, he theatrically fell to his knees and raised his hands to the heavens. In post-match interviews, he explained his disappointment a little more calmly.

“I don’t want to be negative about the referees, but this is unbelievable and ridiculous. It damages the image of English football. Neither the Aston Villa players nor the fans understood why the goal was disallowed.”

Captain Conor Gallagher, per TNT Sports, was more blunt: “They gutted us.”

Chelsea’s questionable verdict took away a valuable win. She came to Villa Park after a humiliating 0:5 defeat in the derby with Arsenal. They were losing 0:2 against Aston Villa before half time, but they erased the two-goal loss on the field of the fourth Premier League team after an hour of play and Chelsea even completed a sensational turnaround in the setup.

Chelsea remained ninth in the table and football old-timers gained only more ammunition that VAR robs the beautiful game of immediate emotions and its use creates controversy rather than smoothing it out.