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Chelsea fans fume at Azpilicueta

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Chelsea crashed to a defeat in their first Champions League game under Frank Lampard, losing 1-0 to Valencia on Tuesday night. 

However, they should have got a point after being awarded a VAR penalty with just three minutes of the game left.

Ross Barkley insisted on taking the spot-kick after a debate with Jorginho and Willian, but smashed his shot off the top of the bar.

Chelsea also lost Mason Mount to an ankle injury in the first half in a thoroughly miserable night at Stamford Bridge.

Many Chelsea fans were left fuming at Cesar Azpilicueta following the game. He was the captain but fans said he wasn’t vocal enough, couldn’t motivate the team, and claimed he should have intervened when Barkley insisted on taking the penalty.

Here are the best reactions from Chelsea fans on Twitter:

Azpilicueta came in for a lot of stick after the game but we think it’s got more to do with his captaincy and the penalty incident in particular. He wasn’t the worst player on the pitch for Chelsea by a long distance.

According to WhoScored, he was the third-best Chelsea player on the pitch, behind Marcos Alonso and Willian, with a 6.8 rating. The three central defenders and Kepa Arrizabalaga all scored lower.

One fan said he had cost Chelsea every game this season, but under Lampard, his side has only lost one other game, against Man United. Azpilicueta had his worst game of the season then, according to WhoScored, but still rated higher than Arrizabalaga, Kurt Zouma, Jorginho and Andreas Christensen.

The penalty incident was a major talking point in the game. There did appear to be some confusion, with Barkley taking the ball from Jorginho.

After the game, Willian suggested that either he or Jorginho should have taken the spot-kick, but Frank Lampard came out afterwards and said that Barkley was right to take it and that if he’s on the pitch he’s the designated penalty taker.

Talking in the Telegraph he said, “Ross is the penalty taker, he was in pre-season and scored a couple. He has been when he started, he was when he came on today and he missed it. That is the clear story.”

If that is the case, Azpilicueta should surely have been more vocal and stepped in to diffuse the situation on the pitch immediately. The debate over who was going to take the penalty can’t have helped Barkley.

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