Chelsea’s Marcos Alonso Charged with Violent Conduct By FA

By Justice Dzido On Apr 17, 2018

Chelsea defender Marcos Alonso has been charged with violent conduct following an incident with Southampton’s Shane Long, the Football Association has announced.

Saints manager Mark Hughes accused Alonso of almost breaking Long’s leg in the challenge, which happened in the 43rd minute of Chelsea’s 3-2 victory at St, Mary’s Stadium on Saturday.

Referee Mike Dean did not book Alonso for the incident, which happened directly in front of fourth official Roger East. The FA confirmed neither match official saw the incident, which was caught on video.

Alonso has until 6pm on Wednesday to respond to the charge.

The incident will now be referred to a panel of three former elite match officials who will review the video footage independently. For retrospective action to be taken the decision of the panel must be unanimous.

Alonso is facing a three-match ban which would rule him out of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with the Saints and Premier League games against Burnley and Swansea.

Chelsea came from behind to win 3-2, leaving Southampton five points off safety in the Premier League.

Afterwards, Hughes urged the FA to look at it retrospectively.

“Shane’s got a gash down the calf, having seen it again there’s a clear red card,” he said after the game. “There’s clear intent to hurt Shane, it was raked down the back of the calf.

“It’s a dangerous tackle and could have broken his leg, in my view, and how the three officials who were near it all missed it was a mystery to me.”

Sky Sports pundits Matt Le Tissier and Dennis Wise called Dean’s decision “embarrassing”, while former referee Dermot Gallagher said he expected the Football Association to revisit the incident.

Source: Skysports