Paris Saint-Germain advanced to the quarter-finals after securing a 2-2 draw at the end of normal time and extra time. The Parisians came to Stamford Bridge with a home leg score of 1-1 and if that wasn’t disadvantage already, striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was dismissed merely after 31 minutes following a collision with Oscar.
It has been debated ever since whether the Swedish international actually deserved a red or not. Ibrahimovic has criticised Chelsea’s players for their reaction, nevertheless, and has branded the home side “11 babies”.
Ibrahimovic was not pleased with the reaction following his tackle on Oscar and criticized both the opponents and the referee, while insisting that he attempted to pull out of the tackle.
“When I saw the red card I was like ‘the guy doesn’t know what he’s doing’ or maybe he saw something else,” he said.
“The worst is what I see when I get the red card – all the Chelsea players come around. It felt like I had 11 babies around me. I pulled out because I saw him also coming.
“I don’t know if he [Oscar] was acting afterwards or where I hit him. It doesn’t matter. We won the game and we went through so we will see what happens.”
Thiago Silva headed home in extra time as PSG came back being 2-1 down in extra-time and booked their place in the quarter-finals of the competition.Ibrahimovic hailed his side for recovering despite being down to 10 men.
He added: “It was an amazing performance because we were playing with one less, even in extra-time, so they should have all the credit they can get. They played with big hearts. We showed quality and big heart.”
PSG will probably lodge an appeal against the red card. Manager Laurent Blanc said after the game, “I haven’t had a chance to look though the footage. There will be a committee who will convene to talk about the decision and I hope he will be in our party for the quarter-final.”