Conte, Courtois defend Moses over FA Cup woe
Chelsea manager Antonio Conte does not believe Victor Moses is mostly culpable for his side’s 2-1 FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, while Thibaut Courtois also believes the Nigerian need not apologise over the FA Cup loss.
The Nigerian international was shown a second yellow card in the 76th minute for an apparent dive in the Arsenal box.
Chelsea duly lost by the odd goal in three as Arsenal exploited the Blues’ numerical disadvantage to close out the win.
Conte was asked about the decision to show Moses a second yellow card and while he claimed he did not see the incident clearly, he inferred that Moses might have been awarded a penalty instead of a dismissal.
“For me now it’s very difficult to tell because I saw contact with Moses and their player but I don’t know if it was a penalty or not,” Conte explained.
Moses was an integral member of Chelsea’s squad this season as he made telling contributions to the Blues’ charge to the English Premier League title.
The 26-year-old Super Eagles man made 40 appearances and scored four times for Chelsea in all competitions in the 2016-17 season.
Meanwhile, Courtois leapt to the defence of Moses, claiming the Nigerian need not apologise over the Cup loss.
According to the Belgian, the Gunners deserved to win but questioned Aaron Ramsey’s first goal.
“We are obviously disappointed but I want to say congratulations to Arsenal. They played a good game,” Courtois told reporters.
“The first goal should never have been allowed – it was clearly a handball and then Ramsey was offside because he was interfering in play.
“After that goal, we tried to play but they deserved it.
“Then we went down to 10 men and the red card was correct. Victor Moses doesn’t need to apologise.”
Victor Moses became the fifth player to be dismissed in the English FA Cup final after simulating a foul in the Blues’ 2-1 defeat to Arsenal at Wembley.
Twitter taunted the Chelsea star, with some even suggesting that he should feature in the 2020 Olympics diving event.
