Should Jonathan Tah have been sent off against Chelsea? For an angry Enzo Maresca, the matter was clear—but Munich’s counterattack came promptly.
Just as Cole Palmer had brought Chelsea back into the game with his counterattack goal to make it 1-2 against Bayern Munich, Enzo Maresca was more upset than he had been at any other point during this Champions League evening. The Chelsea coach vehemently demanded a red card for Jonathan Tah, but ended up receiving two yellow cards: one for Tah and one for himself.
As Chelsea’s counterattack was just getting underway, the Bayern center back engaged in a heated duel with Joao Pedro in the center circle, far away from the ball. Both players fell to the ground and were out of the play during the attack.
First, the Blues striker pulled on Tah’s jersey, from which he violently broke free—among other things with a possible striking motion, which the TV images could not clearly resolve. For Maresca, however, the matter was clear.
“It should have been a red card. There’s no doubt in my mind,” the Italian vented his frustration after Chelsea’s 3-1 defeat in Munich was confirmed. “I’ve always said that if there’s no intention to play the ball, but only the intention to kick another player, it’s a red card. Why isn’t it a red card? The referee said it wasn’t hard or aggressive enough. So to get a red card, they have to see blood or something else.“
Kompany substituted Tah at half-time as a precaution
When asked about Maresca’s demand for a red card, Tah disagreed: ”If I hit him in the face, then yes. But like that… no.“ He could understand the yellow card, which was ”correct.“ And in the end, it was the reason why Tah’s first Champions League appearance in a Bayern jersey was over after just 45 minutes. ”You don’t like it, but I can understand it,” he said of his coach’s decision.
“It was just a matter of protecting the team and making sure we could continue playing with eleven men,” Vincent Kompany explained Min-Jae Kim’s substitution at half-time. “We can’t be any less aggressive against an opponent of this quality.”
Kompany found Maresca’s opinion on the scene in question even less understandable than Tah himself. “I may be biased, but I thought it was more of a foul the other way around. I thought he was being pulled by his jersey and trying to break free.” The Belgian knows from his own experience that this is the “natural instinct” of a defender.
