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Chelsea boss Frank Lampard admitted that Chelsea’s second penalty against Rennes was a bit harsh, and pundits criticised the decision for a penalty.
Rennes defender Dalbert was shocked to have received a second yellow card as well as the referee’s decision to award a penalty, but former Premier League referee Peter Walton has insisted that referee Felix Zwayer was right to award Chelsea a second penalty.
“First of all, the penalty does seem harsh, but the interpretation of the UEFA rule – like we’ve seen in previous matches – if it strikes the arm, it’s going to be given as a penalty kick,” Walton told BT Sport.
“Personally, I don’t think it was, however, that’s interpretation. As regards to a second yellow card, because he’s deemed to be stopping a promising attack in terms of the handball offence, because he deemed it to be an offence, then it’s a yellow card.
“He’s gone off, and he can count himself unlucky, but that’s the law.”
He added: “The rules are not different but they’re interpreted differently and in Europe the rules are much more clinical.
“Has the player made his body bigger with stopping the ball? It gets a deflection, but his arms are above his shoulder pretty much, and therefore the referee when he’s looked at the monitor, he’s asked himself: ‘Has he made himself bigger? Yes, he has. ‘Has the ball struck it? Yes, it has’.
“In Europe, that’s given, but in the Premier League, they probably take into account the proximity and the speed of the shot and therefore, probably, that wouldn’t be given.
“I think the fact is in the Champions League and UEFA as a whole, once the ball strikes the arm, we’re probably looking at a penalty kick.”