Chelsea's trip to Liverpool on Sunday was not a happy one, as Luiz Felipe Scolari's side headed back to London five points off the pace after losing out to a late Fernando Torres brace.
But there was another Spaniard in the Reds' ranks who contributed just as much to the post-game headlines, and it wasn't Xabi Alonso's playmaking skills that got people talking.
The Basque star made up the other half of the 50-50 challenge that resulted in Frank Lampard's hugely controversial sending off early in the second half, when both players charge at a loose ball in midfield.
Television replays showed that Lampard won the tackle cleanly, but that didn't stop Mike Riley from pulling out the red card and forcing Chelsea to play out the game with ten men.
Ashley Cole reckons such an incident is typical of the way referees treat the Stamford Bridge club, and he pointed to Tottenham Hotspur defender Alan Hutton's unpunished butchering of Shaun Wright-Phillips last season.
"All our players watched what happened with Shaun Wright-Phillips and no one gets booked or questioned about it," said the England left-back in the The Daily Mail.
"We do one little tackle and we seem to be getting yellow and red cards."
What Cole failed to mention was that he was rather lucky to escape charges of improper conduct after ignoring the match official who booked him for his reaction to the Wright-Phillips incident.
The 28-year-old's claims are further tested by the FA (Football Association) disciplinary panel's decision to overturn Lampard's red card, while Jose Bosingwa was let off for his vicious stamp on Yossi Benayoun.
But there was another Spaniard in the Reds' ranks who contributed just as much to the post-game headlines, and it wasn't Xabi Alonso's playmaking skills that got people talking.
The Basque star made up the other half of the 50-50 challenge that resulted in Frank Lampard's hugely controversial sending off early in the second half, when both players charge at a loose ball in midfield.
Television replays showed that Lampard won the tackle cleanly, but that didn't stop Mike Riley from pulling out the red card and forcing Chelsea to play out the game with ten men.
Ashley Cole reckons such an incident is typical of the way referees treat the Stamford Bridge club, and he pointed to Tottenham Hotspur defender Alan Hutton's unpunished butchering of Shaun Wright-Phillips last season.
"All our players watched what happened with Shaun Wright-Phillips and no one gets booked or questioned about it," said the England left-back in the The Daily Mail.
"We do one little tackle and we seem to be getting yellow and red cards."
What Cole failed to mention was that he was rather lucky to escape charges of improper conduct after ignoring the match official who booked him for his reaction to the Wright-Phillips incident.
The 28-year-old's claims are further tested by the FA (Football Association) disciplinary panel's decision to overturn Lampard's red card, while Jose Bosingwa was let off for his vicious stamp on Yossi Benayoun.
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