Mark Clattenburg, a former Premier League referee, has shed light on why Chelsea's penalty appeals were rejected during Saturday's FA Cup final loss to Manchester City at Wembley.
City won 1-0 thanks to Antoine Semenyo's well-taken finish. The result handed the champions a domestic double.
Chelsea protested two penalty decisions that could have changed the match's outcome. Both incidents went against the Blues — one in each half.
In first-half stoppage time, Joao Pedro went down after contact from Abdukodir Khusanov inside City's penalty box. VAR official Peter Bankes reviewed the play but chose not to send referee Darren England to the pitchside monitor.
Clattenburg told The Chelsea Chronicle his reasoning on the first incident. "Khusanov comes across Pedro near the penalty area," he noted.
"There's contact there, but I'd have been shocked to see a penalty given," the former official added. "Khusanov was the stronger of the two, and it looked like a shoulder-to-shoulder challenge."
