Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca said his side had received a written apology from the Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) after the Blues were denied a penalty earlier this season.
“I remember two or three games ago they didn’t whistle a penalty and then we got an email apologizing that it should have been a penalty,” Maresca told the gathered media ahead of his Premier League clash team against Wolves on Monday evening. “But we don’t need any excuses.”
The Italian coach did not name the game in question, however The athlete claim that Maresca was referring to Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace in their first game of 2025.
With the Blues leading 1-0 thanks to Cole Palmer’s opener, Pedro Neto was brought down in the penalty area by Tyrick Mitchell, who was pulling away from Palace. Both the referee and VAR rejected the decision, but former Premier League official Mike Dean strongly opposed the decision. “I think Neto got there first, threw the ball away and Mitchell caught him from behind,” Dean said Sky Sports. “I think it should have been an intervention and a definitive punishment.”
Howard Webb, the technical director of PGMOL, the governing body of English referees, did not address the incident in its January issue The match officials turned on the microphone and the Premier League’s official Match Center X account provided no in-game explanation for the decision.
The athlete claim that PGMOL sources flatly deny Maresca’s claim and insist that Chelsea have issued no apology for this penalty appeal.
Chelsea found themselves on the wrong end of a historic VAR decision against Bournemouth earlier this month when on-field referee Rob Jones breached the VAR’s recommendation to send off Cherries striker David Brooks for a tackle on Marc Cucurella .
It was brought to Maresca’s attention that he was embarrassed by the way his players dramatically demanded red cards and penalties that were not given. He completely disagreed.
“No, not at all,” snorted the former Leicester City manager. “The other day against Bournemouth I got a red card. We won’t change anything.”
“So the club and we are not embarrassed by it. Someone must be embarrassed by something like that, but not us. I love my players, all of them.”