Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta sympathises with Blues full-back Reece James after he was sent off right before half-time in the 1-1 draw with title contenders Liverpool.
Azpilicueta played the full 90 minutes as he led the backline well to help Thomas Tuchel come away with a point in an intense contest at Anfield.
The Blues had taken the lead in the first half through Kai Havertz's looping header in the 22nd minute, but Mohammed Salah's penalty that came from the James situation levelled the contest up going into half-time.
Expectedly, Liverpool dominated the second period but the west Londoners did offer their own threat on the counter-attack and nearly nicked the win themselves through attempts from club-record signing Romelu Lukaku and substitute Mateo Kovacic.
But it was a well-deserved point at the end for Azpilicueta and co, who now go into the international break with their heads held high as their seven points out of nine makes for good reading for the European champions.
After the game, the 32-year-old had his say on the penalty incident to Sky Sports, admitting his sympathy for the unlucky 21-year-old on this occasion.
He said: "First of all, naturally he goes with the arm. The referee gets the information from the VAR, he saw one image and it was enough for him to give a penalty and a red card. For our defensive players, Liverpool brought two attacking players on.
"We had to cope with this and I think we did it well. I spoke to the referee and they can explain the situation. The referee is there to make the decision. I feel sorry for Reece [James] but we had to fight as a team."
Chelsea's 300-appearance versatile defender then went onto speaking more about the decision with Jamie Redknapp, Kelly Cates and the rest of the team on the Saturday Night Football.
"The handball rule, we had a meeting, it’s difficult," Azpilicueta said.
"For this situation, the ball is on the line and the ball touches his leg before hitting his hand.
"It’s a bit far from his body but we cannot run with our arms glued to our body. Of course, as a defender it is tricky."
More importantly than the red card incident itself that involved James, the Spaniard then went onto talk about the magnitude of this point for the Blues.
"I think the first half was good even though we weren’t at our best. It should be 2-0, we had the best chance," the defender admitted.
"When you get into half-time after a good first-half, there are lots of emotions, everyone is shouting because we thought we were better and deserved more.
"We turned our mentality around and changed it. We adapted and changed as a team, we did that and we had our moments in the second half.
"You have to bear in mind we are playing at Anfield, full crowd, a lot of pressure. They put a lot of bodies in front and we had to play as well as we could.
"The team was tired at the end and we had to have moments to breathe. We had to find the right moments to play, so I think the team played together really well.
"We always play to win and I believe we should’ve done it. We had the confidence before the game and we showed it in the first half.
"When the circumstances arrive like it did then you have to adapt. We got a point which is better than losing. We controlled the game in the first half, we had a few knocks and had to fight.
"N'Golo [Kante] had to come out, Kai [Havertz] had to come out - a player who’s in very good form. We spoke and everybody had the ambition to fight and get something from the game."
He went on to finally add what this result means for Chelsea's potential title charge.
"We feel confident," he said. "We are a group that fights for every game but I prefer to go step by step and be honest with ourselves.
"We played good today, but sometimes we didn’t do so well. We’re happy with a point but I feel this team can improve. Let’s move to Aston Villa."
