Referee Mike Dean admits 'mistake' during Chelsea, Tottenham match

Mike Dean

Mike Dean

Video Assistant Referee Mike Dean has admitted he made a mistake by not recommending referee Anthony Taylor to review Cristian Romero’s hair pull on Marc Cucurella for a possible red card in Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea.

Cristian Romero’s hair pull on Marc Cucurella
Cristian Romero’s hair pull on Marc Cucurella

Dean, who was the VAR for the controversial game at Stamford Bridge, decided against any punishment for Romero at the time.

Spurs striker Harry Kane nodded in from the resulting corner for a stoppage-time leveler to deny Chelsea victory and spark ugly touchline clashes between the rival benches.

Dean in his column with Daily Mail, however, admitted that he should have done something differently.

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He said: “No referee wants to be driving home from a game knowing they should have made a different call. Sometimes in hindsight, you realise you could have acted differently.

“For the second goal by Harry Kane, I asked referee Anthony Taylor to wait while I looked at the incident involving Tottenham’s Cristian Romero and Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella.

“I could not award a free kick as VAR, but I could recommend to Taylor that he visit the referee review area to consider a possible red card. In the few seconds, I had to study Romero pulling Cucurella’s hair, I didn’t deem it a violent act.

“I’ve since studied the footage, spoken to other referees and, upon reflection, I should have asked Taylor to visit his pitch-side monitor to take a look for himself. The referee on the field always has the final say.”

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