Saturday’s six-goal thriller between Crystal Palace and Bournemouth was controversial. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Crystal Palace and Bournemouth drew 3-3 at Selhurst Park in Saturday’s Premier League match. Both sides will feel they should have left with three points, but one side could be more upset than the other.
Early in the second half, with Bournemouth leading 2-0, Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr found the back of the net, but was brought down by Marco Senesi. The defender was given a yellow for a challenge, which was confirmed by VAR after a check. But one former official believes the Argentine was rather lucky not to be given his marching orders by field official Jared Gillett.
Clattenburg claims Bournemouth player could have been sent off
In an interview with We Are Palace, former referee Mark Clattenburg, who has already highlighted a number of VAR mistakes this season, admitted that Senesi would not have had any complaints if he had been sent off at Selhurst Park.
“Seneci was the lucky boy to beat Sarr and avoid a red card, which denied him a chance to score. When the tackle happened, Sarr had no covering defenders to stop him from advancing into the penalty area.”
“The only question for the match official to consider is whether the ball is going away from the goal. The ball is going towards the penalty area and not the touchline. Sarr could easily get close to the ball, move into the penalty area and be one-on-one with the goalkeeper. I’m surprised.”
Despite this, Crystal Palace fought back bravely and grabbed a point thanks to a hat-trick from Jean-Philippe Mateta. The recently capped France international could have grabbed a point in the ninth minute of stoppage time, but he fired home from close range. Nevertheless, this is a respective point for the hosts, who will now focus on their achievements in the UEFA Conference League.