Di Matteo plays down Mata ´goal´

16 April 2012 02:46

Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo played down Juan Mata's controversial goal in the club's FA Cup semi-final win against Tottenham on Sunday.

Although Chelsea thumped Spurs 5-1, the game was in the balance when controversy struck.

The winners – who led 1-0 through Didier Drogba's opener – moved further ahead thanks to a goal given to Mata on 49 minutes despite replays showing that the ball clearly did not cross the goal line.

"Apparently it hasn't (crossed the line) so in this case we were on the lucky side," Di Matteo said.

"But how many times before have we had decisions go against us? We scored not just two goals, we scored five, so I'm not sure how much it would matter.

"I talked before the game in my last press conference about the consistency of using the video technology and I'm still of the same opinion."

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard, who scored later in the match, echoed his manager's opinion and went so far as to say Mata's goal should not have counted.

"It wasn't a goal- simple as that," Lampard said.

"For that you have to feel sorry for Tottenham. Goal-line technology needs to be brought in in my opinion. It's just too important and I've said it before a few times.

"I think we still won the game convincingly though, but in terms of goal-line technology for me it's a no-brainer."

"It's very simple, a lot of other sports have embraced it and although we are all traditionalists and we all want to keep the game as quick moving as possible, but cricket was like that as well and it has benefitted from technology and it has become more exciting to watch.

"Football is a big business and it's too important not to get right."

Although Gareth Bale pulled a goal back for Tottenham, Ramires, Lampard and Florent Malouda all scored in the final 15 minutes to cap off an impressive Chelsea performance.

And Di Matteo preferred to focus on that, adding that the result would give them a real lift ahead of the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-final against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.

"I think our team played very well today," he said.

"I thought it was a great performance by our team. We're pleased to have scored those goals. It's a boost of confidence for us."

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp dubbed referee Martin Atkinson's decision to give the goal as a 'big mistake' in the aftermath of their heavy defeat.

Quizzed on whether he felt Atkinson had guessed the decision, Redknapp responded: "He must have (guessed). I don't think you can be sure, he's just made a mistake.

"The second goal was a disaster. It was nowhere near a goal. He's made a big mistake, he hasn't done it on purpose."

"I don't see how he can give the goal. It's nowhere near over the line. There were bodies lying on the line. There's no way the ball can go anywhere near over the line.

"There's nothing we can do about it now. You need goal-line technology surely, we can't keep going like we're going at the moment with important decisions not being correct."

Redknapp also revealed that Atkinson had apologised to him after the match for the decision.

"I spoke to him and he said he feels worse than I do. I said 'I don't think so!'" he said.

"He said he knows he's made a mistake and he's going to have a bad week as well. It was (a) key moment but we were still bang in the game at 2-1.

"We were chasing the game and we ended up (with) four forwards on the pitch. I brought another forward on and we looked to open. We got punished and they picked us off."