Chelsea raise suspicions about judgement

Chelsea of the English Premier League have revealed discomfort without reservation even by raising "conspiracy theory."

After failing to advance to the quarterfinals in the UEFA Champions League recently, the team is being closely chased after by Manchester City with a gap of six winning points in the Premier League, in which it has been constantly maintaining its lead. Chelsea, which are struggling amid internal and external woes, posted a comment entitled “Penalty puzzle” on its website on Thursday.

Chelsea claim that there were many cases where penalty kicks were not declared by the umpire even though violation was apparently committed within the penalty area by the opponent team. Chelsea are suggesting that it is given disadvantageous judgment in matches.

Chelsea had 12 penalty kicks in the 2009-2010 season, eight in the 2010-2011, five in the 2011-2012 season, 11 in the 2012-2013 season, and seven in the last season. However, the team only acquired two penalty kicks in 28 games this season. The most recent penalty kick was recorded just in November last year. The team also presented evidence suggesting that it had four penalty kicks in eight matches in the Champions League, as opposed to the Premier League.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has made appeals against what he calls "unfair judgment" by umpires several times in recent months. The manager told a press conference in January, “The umpire is making judgment in disfavor of Chelsea,” and ended up paying fines. However, other teams have claimed “Chelsea is pressuring to secure judgment in its favor by umpires.”

Meanwhile, all eight teams of the 2014-2015 Champions League have been singled out. They include one team from the German Bundes Liga (Bayern Munich), one from the Portugal League (Porto), one from Italian Serie A (Juventus), three from Spain Primera Liga (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlantico Madrid), and two from the French League (Saint-Germain, and AS Monaco). Teams from the Premier League all failed to make it.

creating@donga.com