Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor said it was “not good enough” that there was a nine minute break in play in the first half of Chelsea’s 1-1 Champions League draw with Barcelona that disrupted the momentum of the game.
The game was paused in the first half following a technical fault that meant all streams and video feeds, including the UEFA stream used for VAR went down forcing the game to stop just before half time.
“It was really frustrating, we were in a really good momentum, when this comes from something you can’t control, I think, at this level, it’s not good enough,” Bompastor told a news conference.
“I don’t know if this has happened in the men’s game but that’s the first time I’ve seen that.”
ESPN was told that the generators that power the technology went down causing the fault.
Late in the second half, with her first touch of the game, Catarina Macario had the ball in the back of the net. The goal was ruled out for offside, but Bompastor said she is not convinced the technology was in use for the goal.
“To be honest with you I’m not even sure if the VAR was on in the second half. As you could see, in the first half we had almost a 10-minute break, the TV went off,” she said.
“It’s something I didn’t really like because we were in a really good momentum and when you have to stop the players, I think it’s not good enough at this level. Maybe it’s something no one can control. In the second half I’m not even sure the VAR was on.
“I think the VAR was off so they didn’t have any screen to check the VAR so I think this was the reason why,” she added.
Captain Millie Bright was dropped from the starting XI as Bompastor preferred Nathalie Björn and Naomi Girma at centre-back over the 32-year-old.
Bompastor admitted that the former England defender was “frustrated” at the decision but was intent on supporting the team in other ways.
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“She was frustrated, for sure, and not happy about the decision, but that’s normal. That’s the reaction I expect from her,” she said.
“I think in that conversation she just showed the frustration, but I think she understood and she has a good reaction. Since the moment I told her that she was not going to start, two minutes after she was focusing on the team and I gave her some expectations for her as a leader to be focusing on.
“Even if I haven’t said that to her, she was always focusing on the team and team first.”
