Bompastor again criticises refereeing after seeing red in Chelsea exit to Arsenal

Sonia Bompastor blasted refereeing in the Champions League as “not good enough” after she was shown two yellow cards and emotions boiled over following Katie McCabe’s hair pull on Alyssa Thompson in a frantic end to their two-legged quarter-final defeat by Arsenal.

The holders, Arsenal, progress despite the controversy, and will play the winner of Thursday night’s quarter-final between Lyon and Wolfsburg, with the German side taking a 1-0 lead into the second leg.

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A 1-0 win for Chelsea at home was not enough to overturn Arsenal’s 3-1 advantage from the first leg last week and once again refereeing decisions were the focus.

“I was emotional because I think it’s clear for everyone: I had one of my players whose hair was pulled,” said the Chelsea manager. “I can probably understand that the referee sometimes can’t see that, but I don’t understand. It’s not the first time now, it was the same one week ago [when Veerle Buurman’s goal was incorrectly ruled out by the referee and the decision was not overturned by the video assistant referee]. Why the VAR is not checking that situation? Why are they not going back to that, just checking and having a clear call on that?”

Sjoeke Nüsken’s injury-time strike had given Chelsea hope but it was not enough. On the break straight after the goal, McCabe dragged Thompson down by the hair and the Danish referee, Frida Klarlund, waved away the furious appeals for a red card.

Bompastor criticised Uefa for telling Sky Sports they were happy with their referee selection process following last week’s incident, reeling off a list of Champions League incidents that have cost them.

“If they are happy with what happened in the first leg and tonight, that’s not good enough,” she said. “They shouldn’t be happy about that. It’s clear for everyone. The only thing we can do is talk about it. I don’t think it will change anything, which is really annoying, but I have to mention it just in respect for my players because I think at the end it’s tough for them.”

The manager also hit back at McCabe’s claim that the hair pull was unintentional. The Republic of Ireland international posted shortly after the game that she wanted “to clarify that I was genuinely reaching for the shirt, I wouldn’t ever want to pull someone’s hair. Full respect to Thompson.”

Bompastor said: “I think the intention is clear for me: she tried to grab the hair. And I think for that reason, it’s clearly a red card.”

Renée Slegers’ side perhaps expected some early pressure at Stamford Bridge with a two-goal cushion. They got it but they weathered the storm and were relieved when Chelsea’s best chance fell to Thompson just past the half-hour and she skied the ball over the bar after a smart one-two with Sam Kerr on the left.

The US international joined Chelsea in the summer for a reported £1.1m, a key recruitment in an expensive year for the club, with WSL spending on agents’ fees, in figures released by the Football Association on Tuesday, showing a 75% increase year-on-year. Bompastor’s side accounted for a huge chunk of the WSL’s overall spend of £3.8m on agents’ fees, with £1.08m spent by the club between February 2025 and 2026. Arsenal were the next biggest WSL spenders on £446,010.

The Gunners thought they had killed the tie with 10 minutes remaining when Stina Blackstenius headed in, but the Swedish forward was adjudged to have been narrowly offside in the buildup.

The disallowed goal lit a fire under Chelsea, roared on by a record home crowd for a weekday game of 16,983, they pushed Arsenal to the edge, Lauren James forced a save from Daphne van Domselaar and Buurman hit a post after pouncing on the parried ball. Two minutes later the goalkeeper was in action again to tip Nüsken’s header on to the bar.

Chelsea finally broke the deadlock deep into added time when Nüsken fired in at the near post. It was too little, too late and Arsenal collapsed in relief at the final whistle, the defence of their title continuing.

On whether they can replicate their incredible run to a second European title last season, 18 years after the first, Slegers said: “We take nothing for granted, we need to earn the right. We did something last year that gave us inspiration and also experience of how those things can be done – but that is no guarantee.”