Cristian Romero will not face any further action for pulling Marc Cucurella’s hair during the 2-2 draw between Chelsea and Tottenham on Sunday afternoon.
The Argentine was seen tussling with the former Brighton defender at a corner, with the latter hitting the deck. Referee Anthony Taylor awarded another corner after VAR official Mike Dean looked at the incident and decided it was neither a red card nor a free kick to Chelsea.
From that resulting corner, Harry Kane flicked in Spurs’ equaliser to earn them a barely deserved point before managers Thomas Tuchel and Antonio Conte came to blows on the touchline.
There had been talk of retrospective action being taken against Romero, but as the video assistant referee saw the incident, no further action can be taken. Football laws also do not explicitly mention hair-pulling and it is down to officials to decide when a particular action veers into violent conduct territory.
The 24-year-old defender will be free for Tottenham’s next fixture, that being Saturday’s early kick off against Wolves in north London.
Spurs had also benefitted from a tight call in the build-up to their first goal scored by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg when Rodrigo Bentancur tackled Kai Havertz on the halfway line and was allowed to continue. Chelsea also argued substitute Richarlison was stood in an offside position obstructing goalkeeper Eduoard Mendy’s vision.
Blues boss Tuchel was incensed by the decisions that went against his side, responding “Maybe it would be better” when asked if Taylor should never referee Chelsea again.
Chelsea fans have historical grievances with the referee, though Tuchel indicated that his squad feel a similar way.
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“I don’t think that just some of the fans think that,” he said. “I can assure you that the whole dressing room, every single person thinks that. I cannot understand how the first goal is not offside. And I cannot understand since when players can pull other people’s hair and stay on the pitch and attack in the last corner.”
The German is being investigated by the Football Association for those comments. He and Spurs counterpart Antonio Conte are already likely to be hit with one-game bans for their conduct on Sunday afternoon.
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