Mauricio Pochettino: 'Last-gasp VAR decision against Chelsea was painful'
The Blues went into Saturday's Premier League fixture in the West Midlands on the back of suffering defeat to Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals and a heavy 5-0 loss to Arsenal on Tuesday night.
During the first half against Villa, Chelsea found themselves two goals down, Marc Cucurella putting through his own net before a neat Morgan Rogers finish doubled the home side's advantage.
However, Chelsea rallied after the break, initially equalising through a well-taken Noni Madueke effort before Conor Gallagher curled a delightful shot from the edge of the area in the far top corner.
Given the level of the comeback, Pochettino may have taken a share of the spoils, but Chelsea thought that they had claimed all three points deep into added-on time courtesy of an Axel Disasi header.
Instead, VAR ruled that Benoit Badiashile had nudged Diego Carlos too aggressively before setting up his French compatriot, a decision that led to a furious reaction from the away side.
What did Pochettino have to say?In an interview with TNT Sports, Pochettino claimed that VAR was «damaging» the Premier League, and although he portrayed a calmer figure in his post-match press conference, the Argentine remained disappointed with the judgment call.
As quoted by football.london, Pochettino said: «We were talking a little bit. The referee didn't see the action on the field. What he saw wasn't a foul for him but then the VAR changed the decision. If the referee had said, 'it was a foul', and then stuck with the decision, then okay no problem.
»The referee saw the action, he didn't see a foul and then
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