UCL: Rennes president, manager blast referee after Chelsea defeat

FRENCH club Rennes are still fuming following their defeat to Chelsea in Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League clash.

Chelsea won the group phase fixture 3-0 at Stamford Bridge to take their points tally to seven from three matches.

However, Rennes player and officials have railed against the controversial nature of their defeat, laying heavily into the referee.

Their major grouse is with the decision to award a penalty against them and issue a second yellow card, therefore a dismissal, to Dalbert for an innocuous looking handball.

The club’s President Nicolas Holvek did not spare his words when condemning the referee.

“The referee is man of the match,” Holvek was quoted by L’Equipe from his interview with RMC on Thursday.

“Someone will have to explain the rule to me when the ball touches Dalbert’s foot before his arm. The result, it’s the referee’s fault. Even the English media are unanimous in saying it’s a small scandal.”

Rennes manager Julien Stéphan was just short of accusing the officials of colluding with Chelsea.

He told L’Equipe: “I don’t want to go down the conspiracy theory route, but it’s true we’re frustrated. What happened is very surprising. I don’t think it would have happened on the other side of the pitch.”

Timo Werner scored the controversial penalty and the one earlier awarded while Tammy Abraham scored the other goal for Chelsea.