Chelsea romped into the English FA Cup semifinal with a 5-1 beating of London rivals Tottenham Hotspur in a controversial match at Wembley Sunday.
The pre-match minute's silence to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster and Saturday's death of Italian footballer Piermario Morosini had to be cut short due to jeers from a section of Chelsea supporters.
The Blues were forced to issue an apology on its website after the match saying they were "extremely disappointed that a very small minority of fans embarrassed the club."
When the game -- played between two teams battling to secure England's fourth and final European Champions League place next season -- was under way the controversy continued, centering around Chelsea's second goal.
Ferguson: EPL title race not over
Leading 1-0 from Didier Drogba's superb first-half strike, Chelsea went further ahead when Juan Mata's shot hit a cluster of bodies on the Tottenham line, with TV replays indicating it had not crossed the line.
But referee Martin Atkinson awarded the goal to spark frantic protests from incensed Tottenham players.
They reacted with a Gareth Bale goal, but even that had a tinge of controversy, with Atkinson ignoring goalkeeper Petr Cech's foul on striker Emmanuel Adebayor, which could have led to a red card, to play the advantage for the Welshman to score.
Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said Atkinson later apologized.
"I spoke to him. He says he feels worse than I do. I said: 'I don't think so,' " Redknapp told reporters.
"He knows he's made a mistake and he says he'll have a bad week as well."
Chelsea responded with a superb third goal by Ramires before fellow midfielder Frank Lampard put the outcome beyond doubt with a long-range free-kick which wrong-footed Carlo Cudicini in the Tottenham goal.
Florent Malouda scored the fifth as a dispirited Tottenham continued to make defensive errors, putting Chelsea into the final against Liverpool next month and boosting the team ahead of Wednesday's Champions League semifinal first leg against Barcelona .
Liverpool beat archrivals Everton 2-1 in Saturday's semifinal at Wembley.
The match was played a day before the anniversary of the April 14, 1989 tragedy that saw 96 Liverpool fans crushed to death during an FA Cup semifinal against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield -- one of the worst disasters in football history.
Meanwhile in the Scottish Cup, Celtic's double hopes were ended by a 2-1 defeat to Hearts.
The winner from Hearts also proved controversial with Celtic manager Neil Lennon confronting referee Euan Norris at the end of the match.
With the scores 1-1, Norris awarded Hearts a penalty when a Marius Zaliukas shot struck Joe Ledley on the arm.
Craig Beattie scored from the spot before Celtic were denied a penalty in stoppage time when Andy Webster appeared to handle in the box.
Hearts will play Edinburgh rivals Hibernian in the final.
0 Comments
If You liked this post or have any suggestions or query then you can leave your message below. We will reach you as soon as time allows because we love to hear what we have missed and what can be done just from you!