Lampard sends ‘Strong message’ to VAR following Lo Celso ‘leg-breaker’ on Azpilicueta

Frank Lampard this afternoon labelled the Video Assistant Referee system ‘not good enough’, on the back of his side’s victory over Tottenham.

While Chelsea, in the end, secured all 3 points, though, the capital giants were nevertheless left to feel aggrieved by another major VAR decision going in favour of their opposition.

Early in the second-half, a coming together between Giovani Lo Celso and Cesar Azpilicueta saw the latter come out the worse.

Upon replays being broadcast, it quickly became evident that this came as a result of a horror challenge on the part of Lo Celso, which saw the Argentine international stamp on the shin of Azpilicueta.

Incredibly, though, following a VAR check, it was decided that the Spurs midfielder’s actions were not worthy of a red card.

As such, despite the VAR team later admitting that they had gotten the decision wrong, and that Lo Celso should in fact have been sent for an early bath, Frank Lampard was heavily critical of the situation in the game’s aftermath.

Speaking to BT Sport in a post-match interview, the Chelsea boss slammed VAR as ‘not good enough’, before labelling Lo Celso’s challenge ‘a leg-breaker’:

‘It’s not good enough. It’s not good enough, I’m sorry. It’s two VARs now in two games [following his side’s controversial defeat to Manchester United].’

‘It’s harder to speak about it when you’ve lost because people are claiming you’re just shouting, but maybe you need to shout, because that’s not good enough.’

‘Everybody in the football world saw that that was a red. And it’s too late, too late to do that. The game should be over [at 2-0].’

‘I hate to call for red cards, but when they’re endangering… That’s a leg-breaker of a tackle.’

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