Joe Cole slams ref Paul Tierney for ‘lack of bravery’ in Liverpool vs Chelsea pen call
Chelsea legend Joe Cole accused referee Paul Tierney of bottling a key decision during the Blues' trip to Anfield to take on league-leaders Liverpool.
Early on during the tie, Conor Gallagher appeared to be caught by Reds defender Virgil van Dijk as he made his way into the penalty area. The England international fell to the ground before he could get a shot away, but Tierney dopted against pointing to the spot - much to the dismay of Mauricio Pochettino and the rest of the Chelsea squad.
Cole certainly deemed it a penalty and made his feelings on the decision crystal clear while covering the clash for TNT Sport He claimed: "[Raheem] Sterling goes into the box and Gallagher takes a lovely touch and [Virgil] Van Dijk just squares himself off and I think he just leans into him there. For me, that is a penalty. In front of the Kop in the first 10 minutes, I think the referee has not been brave there."
To add insult to injury from a Chelsea perspective, there were more controversial penalty decisions before the first-half was up. Blues full-back Ben Chilwell was shown a yellow card for diving after going to ground despite minimal contact from Liverpool's Ibrahima Konate.
On the verge of half-time, the Reds were then awarded a penalty of their own. Benoit Badashille was deemed to have caught the foot of Diogo Jota, scorer of Liverpool's first goal.
Darwin Nunez stepped up to take it, but could only smash his effort against the upright despite sending Blues goalkeeper Djorde Petrovic the wrong way.
Before that decision had been made, Liverpool academy graduate Conor Bradley enjoyed a moment he'll never forget when he bagged his first goal for the club in front of the Anfield faithful to put the hosts 2-0 up. Chelsea were second best
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