Dodgy Penalty Saves Blues

[jayp]

Benitez furious with ref Styles

Benitez and Mourinho exchanged brief pleasantries before the match
Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez was left incensed by Rob Styles' decision to award Chelsea a penalty that denied the Reds victory at Anfield.
Styles adjudged that Steve Finnan fouled Florent Malouda, although replays showed there was no contact.

"It's difficult to explain such a decision - maybe the referee was under a bit of pressure," said Benitez.

"I think he will watch the video of the match and admit that his penalty decision was a mistake."


The penalty came in the second half after summer signing Fernando Torres gave Liverpool the lead and scored his first goal for the club in the opening period.


Regarding the game, Benitez believed Liverpool had the upper hand in a hotly contested match that ended in the awarding of eight yellow cards.

"I think we played OK and created a few chances and controlled the majority of the game," stated Benitez.

"We had some problems at the start of the second half but came good at the end.

This season I'm not here to make a comment on other managers' opinions

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho

He added: "It was important for Torres to score at Anfield - it will prove beneficial for him in the future."

Meanwhile, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho opted to stay out of the penalty debate.

"This season I'm not here to make a comment on other managers' opinions," he insisted.

"I haven't seen the replay of the incident and it was difficult to make out what was happening at the time.

"Rafa has his opinion and I have mine. I judged the game to be a good and a fair one."

Mourinho said he was not surprised by the 1-1 result at Anfield.

"It's nearly always ended in draws between the clubs during the time I've been here," he said.

"Today, they were strong in the first half and we were strong at the start of the second half.

However, he revealed: "I'm not happy with the amount of goals we've conceded this season but I'm happy with the number we've scored. People should praise our attacking style.

"It's a new Chelsea in one way but an old Chelsea too because of the way we still fight to get results."

[lfc junkie]

liverpool was simply better, they've started way better than last year.
Fukc Styles, he's prob. a lot richer after that decision.

[Spencer89]

Now its liverpools turn to feel hard done by after that non existant goal was given in the champions league semis the other year

[shortfuse0_1]

Originally Posted by Spencer89

Now its liverpools turn to feel hard done by after that non existant goal was given in the champions league semis the other year

If that goal hadn't been given the referee stated that a penalty would have been awarded as well as Cech sent off!