Courtois: Sanchez goal should never have stood

Michael Graham

Thibaut Courtois has criticised the decision to allow Alexis Sanchez’s opening goal for Arsenal as Chelsea sank to FA Cup final defeat.

Sanchez appeared to handle the ball before advancing past a teammate stood in an offside position before slotting past Courtois, and the Chelsea stopper says it should not have been allowed to stand.

“It’s not a good feeling now,” Courtois told the official Chelsea website. “I had the same thing in Spain when I won the league and then lost the Champions League.

“We wanted to end on a high, now we feel sad. Winning is everything so this is hard to face but we have to try to forget it.

“The first goal should never have been allowed – it was clearly a handball and then Ramsey was offside because he was interfering in play,” Courtois said.

“I think it was a handball even if it was maybe not deliberate. His hands were not in a natural position. At the start of every season they tell us the rules and now the hands were not where they should be.

“I think it should have been disallowed for that but not only that. If Ramsey was not in an offside position, I could go out and touch the ball but I had to stop because he was there.

“They gained momentum after that and they dominated. They could have scored one or two more and we have to accept that as well. We knew they would play well as they have the last weeks. We knew we would face a tough game.”

Courtois has blossomed into one of the best goalkeepers in the world, and has won two Premier League titles in three years since returning from a loan spell at Atletico Madrid.

And he says he wants to be around for some time yet to win more honours with the club: “Contract talks haven’t opened but I am happy at Chelsea.

“I hope they reward me with a good contract, then there will be no doubt I will sign it.”