Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea squared off in an all London derby in the first leg of the Carabao Cup which was eventually decided by a controversial penalty in the 26th minute of the game.
Harry Kane converted from the spot after VAR showed he was onside as well as the goalkeeper, Kepa wrongly tripped him inside the box. The goal was enough for Pochettino's side to move into the next leg at the Stamford Bridge with a slender lead.
However, Maurizio Sarri has other opinions concerning the penalty awarded to Tottenham Hotspur. Speaking to a Sky Sports correspondent, the Italian believes Harry Kane was offside when the ball got played to him, and the goal should have been ruled out. Sarri even has evidence to prove for his statement.
According to the Chelsea manager, "With the head, it's offside. But it's not important. It was important that the linesman stopped the run, he didn't follow the ball, so he had a big influence on our defenders, and at the moment I think the English referees aren't able to use the system."
Sarri believes, it was challenging to understand first, once it started in Italy but feels strange that Premier League doesn't have a proper system in place for such occasions. Even Mauricio Pochettino was critical of the credibility of the English referees to use the VAR properly. The Argentine is determined, it should not be a parameter to decide on any controversial call in the Premier League.
Apart from one controversial moment, Maurizio was relatively pleased with his side's performance, especially the young, Callum Hudson-Odoi. The Blues came close on numerous occasions with N'Golo Kante hitting the post at one point. Towards the fag end of the match, Andreas Christensen's got a clear goalscoring chance, but he could keep his shot down.
Though Spurs have their noses in front moving into the second leg, Pochettino is wary of the task in hand and knows that it would not be easy to beat Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge.