Referee wrong on penalty call - Kalou

Posted Thursday, February 25, 2010 by PA

Goal-hero Salomon Kalou insists Chelsea should have been awarded a first-half penalty when he was brought down just minutes before the interval.

Chelsea outplayed Inter Milan throughout but still lost the last-16 first-leg tie 2-1 in a pulsating match at the San Siro. Inter had taken a third-minute lead through Diego Milito only for Kalou to level in the 51st minute. But Esteban Cambiasso restored Inter's lead four minutes later to give Jose Mourinho's side a slight edge going into the return leg at Stamford Bridge on March 16.

But it could have been so different if Chelsea had been awarded a penalty minutes before the break when Kalou appeared to be felled by Inter defender Walter Samuel, the Ivorian said: "It was a penalty but the referee decided it wasn't so there is not a lot you can do about it."

He added: "I felt him touch my right leg but the referee told me that I did not have control of the ball any more when he touched me.

"But I was about to shoot and if he touched me on the back of the leg it should be a penalty or he should have booked me for diving."

Chelsea will still be wondering how they lost a match in which they were far superior in all departments.

But the English club were boosted after the game when it was discovered that goalkeeper Petr Cech, stretchered off with what looked like a knee injury in the second-half, had in fact damaged his calf.

But Kalou believes his away goal could prove vital in the return leg in west London.

"It is a good feeling to have the away goal," said Kalou. "Now we have to work on that and try to score at the Bridge and not concede.

"Jose knew we were going to attack and keep the ball. But they scored at the right moments and that made the difference. We knew could control the game but we knew they could be dangerous on the break and that is what happened."