Sonia Bompastor was left seething after Katie McCabe controversially avoided a red card in a dramatic Champions League quarter-final.
Arsenal looked almost certain to go down to 10 players when McCabe pulled the hair of Alyssa Thompson during a Chelsea attack in added time.
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McCabe, the partner of Matildas star Caitlin Foord, somehow – despite VAR being in use – for the challenge, leaving Chelsea manager Bompastor furious on the sidelines.
She initially received a yellow card for protesting, but was quickly booked for a second time before being ushered down the tunnel.
Bompastor made her feelings on the incident clear at full-time as she even showed a replay of the incident on her phone.
Watch the hair pulling incident unfold in the video player above
“I brought the phone with me, I don’t know if you can see that,” she said.
“But if you look at this video, for me it’s clearly the red card for the Arsenal player. She’s pulling Alyssa’s hair.
“So I think for me, if the VAR again is not able to check that situation, I don’t know why we have the VAR.”
Bompastor continued her complaints and doubled down on the punishment that should have gone to McCabe.
“In the moment, I was emotional because I think it’s clear for everyone,” she said.
“I can probably understand the referees sometimes can’t see that, but I don’t understand – and it’s not been the first time now – why the VAR is not checking that situation?
“Why are they not going back to that, checking and having a clear call on that? Because the impact on my player she was emotional.
“At the end, I’m the one who gets a red card, where I think the Arsenal player should be the one who gets a red card.”
Bompastor went on to slam VAR and the officials in charge of it, adding: “What is the VAR doing in these games?
“If we have the VAR, why are we not checking these situations? I don’t understand, and it’s not good enough.”
Chelsea part-owner Alexis Ohanian also had his say on the incident, taking to X to comment: “Protect players.”
McCabe later claimed on social media that she did not intend to pull Thompson’s hair.
“I just want to clarify that I was genuinely reaching for the shirt,” she wrote.
“I wouldn’t ever want to pull someone’s hair. Full respect to Thompson.”
Arsenal progressed to the semi-finals with a 3-2 win on aggregate despite losing 1-0 in west London following Sjoeke Nusken’s late strike.
Goals from Stina Blackstenius, Chloe Kelly and Alessia Russo helped Arsenal to a 3-1 lead going into the second leg, with Lauren James keeping Chelsea in it.
The reigning European champions will face either Wolfsburg or Lyon in the semi-finals. The first leg is scheduled to take place on April 25 with Arsenal playing at home.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
