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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Nathan Ridley

David Moyes 'confronts' referee in furious dressing room row over Chelsea controversy

David Moyes allegedly confronted referee Andrew Madley in his dressing room after West Ham United's last-minute equaliser against Chelsea was controversially disallowed.

Substitute Maxwel Cornet capitalised on Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy's spillage to slot home with just seconds of normal time remaining at Stamford Bridge and the scoreline 2-1. But after wild celebrations in the away end and vehement appeals from the hosts, Mendy - who stayed down - was deemed to have been fouled by Jarrod Bowen in the build-up after a VAR check.

Chelsea held out for six minutes of additional time and swiped all three points before Moyes marched onto the pitch, gesticulating towards Madley. The referee wasn't safe from the West Ham boss' wrath once he made his way off the field either, with talkSPORT reporting that Moyes went into Madley's dressing room to further express his anger with the hotly-contested decision.

It's claimed that the Scot was yelling expletives towards the match official and it's no surprise given his post-match comments to the media. "You have seen it, it is a scandalous decision, absolutely rotten from one of the supposedly elite referees," Moyes fumed in his news conference, as he claimed that Mendy faked his injury and took aim at the official in charge of VAR for the match, Jarred Gillett.

"It doesn't say much about whoever sent him over from VAR as well - it is an unbelievable decision against us. We feel we got back to 2-2 and it was not down to anything we have done. I support a lot of the VAR stuff, I actually think the goalkeeper dives, he is faking an injury because he cannot get to the next one - he did the same on the first goal as well. The referee somehow gets that so wrong it is incredible."

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel saw a different side to the incident, though, stating: "It was a clear foul on the goalkeeper, I had doubts about the first [goal] - but I will not comment, last time I got punished with huge fines."

Get involved! Should West Ham's equaliser has been ruled out? Give us your verdict in the comments section.

West Ham captain Declan Rice took to Twitter to vent his frustration at Madley and Gillett's decision, posting : "That's up there with one of the worst VAR decisions made since it's come into the game. Shambles." Rice later added : "Can't believe the referee has even been asked to go take a look at the monitor! Cannot see how they've come to that decision."

His England teammate and Chelsea's goalscorer, Ben Chilwell, admitted that the Blues had "a bit of luck" in getting the win, as the left-back told Sky Sports : "I went over to look at the VAR screen and from my point of view it was a foul - we put ourselves in that position and should have done, it's that bit of luck we got today."

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