Chelsea's Champions League hopes are very much in the balance. On Tuesday night, the Blues were beaten 3-1 by fierce London rivals Arsenal in the first leg of their quarter-final clash at Emirates Stadium. The return leg at Stamford Bridge is coming up next Wednesday, on April Fool's Day, but this is no joke, exiting at this stage would be a major failure for the six in a row WSL champions.
Speaking after the first leg, manager Sonia Bompastor made her feelings about referee Ionela Peşu, as well as the standard of officiating in women's football in general, very clear:
"It's really frustrating. It's always more difficult to complain about the referees when you have lost the game, but it's not good enough. We need to really find solutions. When you are playing a quarter-final of the Champions League, you need to respect the women's game... For sure, the first goal is a goal. I don't see, with the VAR, how you can disallow that goal... It is what it is and it's nothing we can control."
Sonia Bompastor gets her right of reply after Arsenal vs Chelsea
The Frenchwomen was left frustrated by the fact that her side had two goals disallowed. First, on the cusp of half time, Veerle Buurman thought she had halved the deficit, heading into an empty net, but it was adjudged that she had pushed Laia Codina in the process.
Then, right towards the end of the game, Kadeisha Buchanan had a goal chalked off for a foul on goalkeeper Anneke Borbe; this one was a lot more clear-cut. Nevertheless, the discussion surrounding refereeing standards at the highest levels of the women's game is not going to go away. VAR has been added to the Women's Champions League as of last season, and was led by Romanian Ovidiu Hațegan on Tuesday, one of the highest-rated officials in the men's game.
However, this is not the case in the vast majority of women's domestic competitions, including the WSL, with governing bodies citing cost as well as lower-quality stadia and facilities as hurdles. Thus, given this controversy, there will be additional spotlight on whoever is taking charge of next mid-week's return leg.
Before then, Chelsea will welcome Aston Villa to Kingsmeadow on Sunday lunchtime. The Blues' sequence of six successive WSL titles will come to an end, but are now in danger of missing out on a top three finish and Champions League qualification, following last weekend's 1-1 draw at London City Lionesses. Thus, despite picking up the League Cup and still being involved in the FA Cup, their poor league form added extra scrutiny to Chelsea's Champions League aspirations, so crashing out at this stage would be catastrophic for Bompastor and her team.