Jude Bellingham has questioned the decision to allow Kai Havertz to re-take a crucial penalty in Chelsea’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund.
Graham Potter’s side progressed 2-1 on aggregate after a 2-0 second leg win at Stamford Bridge.
Havertz’s penalty, after Marius Wolf was deemed to have handled, proved decisive as Dortmund exited at the last-16 stage.
The intervention of the video assistant referee that led Chelsea to be awarded a penalty prompted protests from the visiting players, who were further riled when Havertz was allowed to take again having struck the post with his initial spot-kick.
Bellingham believes that ruling that Dortmund’s players had encroached into the box before the kick had been taken was a “joke” of a decision.
“I’m not sure what more he can do with his hand,” Bellingham said after the match of the initial decision against Wolf. “That in itself was disappointing and the fact that they’ve had a retake, I think it’s a joke.
“For every penalty, especially when you have such a slow run-up, there’s going to be people encroaching into the box by a yard or so. He’s made the decision and we have to live with it.”
After the ball struck Wolf’s hand soon after the half-time interval, referee Danny Makkelle was asked to review footage by VAR official Pol Van Boekel and subsequently pointed to the penalty spot.
Another VAR review then spotted Dortmund players encroaching during Havertz’s initial miss, allowing the German to double Chelsea’s lead on the night after Raheem Sterling’s goal on the stroke of half-time.
Pressed to further expand on his comments, Bellingham declined, saying: “I don’t want to get in trouble. I’ve paid enough to them lot.”
The England international midfielder was fined £34,000 in December 2021 after making comments critical of the officiating during a Dortmund defeat to Bayern Munich.
The result came as a major boost for under-pressure Potter, who has endured a difficult first season since being appointed at Stamford Bridge in September.
The London club advance to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and the Chelsea manager hailed the achievement as one of the biggest of his coaching career.
“To win a game and go into the last eight of the Champions League, it’s up there with one of the games or evenings of my career.
“The players were tremendous and the supporters were tremendous.
“We had to be against a team that were doing so well. Over the two games I felt that we deserved to go through. It was a special night.”
