Joe Cole and Peter Crouch praise ‘brave’ decision NOT to give Chelsea a penalty despite being called over to VAR monitor – as Blues star slams ‘theatrical’ Mykhailo Mudryk

Both Joe Cole and Peter Crouch were full of praise for referee Serdar Gozubuyuk after the referee stood by his original decision despite being sent to the pitch monitor in Chelsea’s Conference League clash with Heidenheim.

Chelsea were tied 0-0 at half-time in the Conference League, the first time they had not taken the lead at half-time in the competition, before Christian Nkunku broke the deadlock shortly afterwards.

The Blues were hampered for the most part by Heidenheim, who were playing an English side for the first time in their history, but thought they had a golden opportunity to cross the line in the first half.

With 33 minutes left on the clock, Mykhailo Mudryk thought he had earned a penalty for his team, but referee Gozubuyuk was not convinced.

However, the VAR seemed to think differently and advised the Dutch official to go to the monitor and reconsider his decision – something that usually results in the call being reversed.

But on this occasion, Gozubuyuk stuck to his guns and ruled that the contact with the Ukrainian was not enough to merit a penalty.

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