Mark Clattenburg explains why Enzo Maresca was dead wrong to demand red card in Chelsea v Bayern

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Mark Clattenburg has exclusively told TBR Football that Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca was wrong to claim Jonathan Tah should have been sent off during their Champions League loss against Bayern Munich.

Maresca was left infuriated that the Bayern Munich defender wasn’t sent off after bringing down Joao Pedro near the halfway line during the build-up to Cole Palmer’s goal.

While the England international was still able to find the back of the net at the end of the clinical counterattack, Maresca believed there should have been more action against Tah for his collision with Pedro.

Ultimately, Vincent Kompany opted to replace Tah at half-time, but Maresca believes he should have been off the field sooner than that.

Exclusive: Jonathan Tah’s foul didn’t meet the threshold for a red card

However, speaking exclusively to TBR Football, Mark Clattenburg believes that the decision to award Tah a yellow card was the correct one at the time due to how far away Pedro was from the goal.

The Chelsea forward was still in his own half when the incident occurred, meaning that Bayern Munich had many covering defenders who would’ve caught up to him.

He said: “Chelsea felt Jonathan Tah should have been sent off after bringing down Joao Pedro near the halfway line.

“However, there was no malice, excessive force, or violence in the challenge, meaning the only possible red card offence would have been denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

“Given the distance from goal and the possibility of a covering defender, it’s unlikely the incident met that threshold. Therefore, the referee’s decision to show a yellow card was correct.”

The Chelsea boss was still reeling about the situation after the final whistle, and during his post-match press conference, Maresca gave his personal thoughts on the incident.

“For me, it is a red card. There is no intention to go for the ball. There is just an intention to kick another player, so why it is not a red card?

“To give the red card these days I think they need to see blood. There is not any doubt [it’s a red].”

Despite Maresca’s viewpoint on the matter, Clattenburg disagreed with him, and felt that the Chelsea boss was more frustrated at the result, rather than this individual matter.

He said: “It’s worth noting that intention has long been removed from the Laws of the Game. Referees are instead asked to judge challenges on factors such as force, malice, and speed, or whether a clear goalscoring opportunity has been denied.

“In this case, the challenge met none of those criteria, so a red card was not appropriate. Maresca’s post-match comments may have reflected his frustration at the result and his team’s performance rather than the referee’s decision.”

Chelsea were the architects of their own downfall

While Bayern Munich going down to 10 men would certainly have made the game easier for the Blues, they were ultimately the victims of their own mistakes at the Allianz Arena.

The first goal saw Trevoh Chalobah put the ball into the back of his own net, while the second came from the penalty spot after Moises Caicedo fouled Harry Kane inside the box.

Chelsea got back into the game through Palmer’s excellent goal and started the second half brightly, but another individual error cost them.

This time, it was Malo Gusto at fault as he gave the ball away to Kane, who quickly punished the Chelsea full-back by scoring his second of the game to put the fixture past the Premier League side.