UEFA to rule on Chelsea, Valencia penalty kick 'ghost miss' controversy

Chelsea U19 advanced to the UEFA Youth League quarterfinals yesterday, beating visitors Valencia U19 in a penalty kick shootout.  At least that's how things stand for the moment.  Unsurprisingly, following the 'ghost miss' of Valencia's first kick in the shootout, the Spanish side have lodged a protest with UEFA whose Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body will meet on Monday to figure out what to do.

A protest against the validity of the match result has been lodged by Valencia CF Youth - Art. 48 (b) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations

-source: UEFA

There is some precedent from UEFA that, if not the whole tie, at least the penalty kick shootout could be restaged.  Last year, the England U19 women's team got to replay the final seconds of their match against Norway after a referee incorrectly disallowed them to retake a penalty kick.  And in 2005, FIFA ordered the entire Uzbekistan vs. Bahrain qualifier to be replayed after similar a gaffe.

But while in the interest of fairness, at least the shootout should be restaged -- though it might be more advantageous for Chelsea to replay the whole game, considering how well below par the team played yesterday (implying that we'd win in regulation this time) -- it is still a tricky situation.  England didn't get any reprieve just because Frank Lampard's goal was wrongly ruled out at the World Cup, for example (though we did get goal line technology out of it).  Re-refereeing can be a slippery slope, regardless of how justified it might be.

I suppose we'll find out soon enough what the brains at UEFA decide.