Jude Bellingham was left fuming over Kai Havertz's "joke" of a retaken penalty as Borussia Dortmund were dumped out of the Champions League by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night. The awarding of the spot kick had been contentious already, VAR advising referee Danny Makkelie to go to the monitor to view the ball hitting Marius Wolf's hand off a Ben Chilwell cross.
That was already enough to have Borussia Dortmund feeling aggrieved, but their anger intensified in the seconds after Havertz's spot kick clattering back off the post. The reprieve they thought they had been handed was soon gone with VAR advising Makkelie that players from both sides had encroached into the area before the ball was struck; among them was Salih Ozcan, who would boot the rebound to safety. Havertz duly converted from his second attempt.
Speaking to BT Sport, Bellingham bemoaned both the awarding of the penalty and the decision to give Havertz a second go. "I'm not sure what more [Wolf] can do with his hand," said the England international. "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."
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Bellingham was not the only one of a Dortmund persuasion to rage over the performance of Makkelie. Though head coach Edin Terzic was relatively philosophical over the decision, chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said that the Dutch referee "wanted to be the most important man on the pitch".
Bellingham certainly has a point that there are numerous instances of penalties standing where referees might let the spot kick stand and VAR would not intervene. But, as CBS Sports' rule expert Christina Unkel noted, Ozcan's decisive action of booting the ball to safety allowed VAR to get involved, and as is apparent in the image below, the Dortmund midfielder was well within the bounds of the penalty area's semicircle.
"In this situation because you have clear encroachment from both teams in this play, the referee could even have decided without the intervention of VAR because they're basically standing in front of him at the time the ball is kicked. It's clear that Ozcan has encroached on this play, I like how [Micah Richards] has pointed out that he is in that semi circle, which exists only for penalty kicks because the players must at all times be 10 yards from this penalty kick.
"Once he becomes involved in play this is when VAR can recommend on encroachment, when a player impacts the play and has encroached, that's when VAR is able to [intervene]. Let's say Ozcan didn't impact that play and the referee had not called encroachment, VAR cannot intervene, only when that player impacts.
"It was the proper recommendation by the VAR and Makkelie will be thanking his VAR tonight."
Our rules expert @christinaunkel explains why Chelsea's penalty for re-taken for encroachment. pic.twitter.com/RNTXaTmakq
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