Chelsea star Maren Mjelde scored last-gasp penalty with NO players around the box due to rare rule
Chelsea star Maren Mjelde scores a last-gasp penalty with no other players around the box to force a shoot-out against Lyon… after the referee stopped them as part of a rare ‘time’ rule additional” at the end of the game
- Chelsea beat Lyon in dramatic Champions League quarterfinal on penalties
- The last second of Maren Mjelde’s penalty in extra time forced a penalty shootout
- The penalty came so late that the referee implemented a rarely seen rule
Fans who watched the dramatic end of Chelsea’s dramatic Champions League clash with Lyon would be forgiven for being a bit confused when the referee implemented one of football’s rarely seen laws.
Lyon held a 2-1 aggregate lead with seconds remaining in extra time in the quarterfinals before Lauren James was brought down in the box to earn a penalty that would send the equalizer to a shot.
It was so late in the game that referee Ivana Martincic decided it was appropriate to apply the rule that ‘additional time is allowed for a penalty kick’.
When this is applied, all other players are ejected from the penalty area, as it will be the final shot of the game and no rebounds will be allowed.
So when Maren Mjelde came closer, the rest of the players stared from the center of the Lyon half.
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The rest of the players were removed from the area when Maren Mjelde took her penalty.
Mjelde convincingly dispatched the penalty to send the game to penalties, where luck was once again on Chelsea’s side.
After the teams traded mistakes, USA international Lindsey Horan saw her kick saved by Ann-Katrin Berger to put Emma Hayes’s side in the last four and keep intact the dream of an unprecedented treble.
They will face Barcelona in the next round with the first leg on April 29.
They are bidding to become the first English team to win the Women’s Champions League.
Mjelde dispatched the emphatic penalty to take the game to a shootout