Sky Sports pundit blasts Mateusz Klich for challenge on Rudiger in Leeds 3-2 v Chelsea
Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich brought down Antonio Rudiger in the closing stages of their 3-2 loss at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.
Referee Chris Kavanagh immediately pointed to the spot, with Jorginho sealing a 94th-minute for his side today (11 December), and the decision of the Whites man to challenge the German defender left Efan Ekoku fuming while on commentary duties on the world feed.
The defeat was a bitter pill for the visitors to swallow as they played well, but the late penalty converted by the Italian meant they returned to Yorkshire with nothing.
The Sky Sports pundit blasted Klich, saying: “What a silly challenge. I cannot believe he’s done that.
“Certainly doesn’t get the ball, certainly makes contact with Rudiger.”
Avoidable?
Rudiger would not have been able to score from the edge of the box, and it could have been hard for him to create a goalscoring chance for his teammates with the back to goal.
The Leeds midfielder should have known better and opted against making such a challenge in the box.
He did not give the ref much of a choice, and while many would argue that the contact was too minimal to deserve a penalty, VAR did not rule it out, and crying over spilt milk surely does not reverse the decision.
Leeds have themselves to blame as they deserved to leave with at least a point after the brilliant performance they put in today, but those mistakes proved very costly.
Hopefully, they will learn from it going forward and improve when they face Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool in the coming games.
Making such errors against the top sides often do not end well, and they need to do better if they want to pick up some points in their next three Premier League games.
In other Leeds United news, the Whites have mapped out plans to avoid relegation scrap as January transfer budget claim emerges.