O'Neill turns on Terry as Villa suffer more Wembley woe
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Martin O'Neill launched an angry attack on John Terry, accusing the defender of making a career-threatening challenge on James Milner during Chelsea's 3-0 FA Cup semifinal victory over Aston Villa.
Villa manager O'Neill claimed Milner was lucky to escape with just heavy bruising following the 74th minute tackle that led to Chelsea captain Terry being booked by referee Howard Webb at Wembley on Saturday.
"It was an awful challenge on an England colleague and James Milner is very lucky his career is still intact," said O'Neill. "The referee has given him a yellow card. But it should have been a red.
"James is very sore and very, very lucky. We think he has got away with it. But if you see the challenge, his knee bends out.
"I've just spoken to the doctor and he says he is very, very lucky. He was turning away from goal and Terry's coming in. I'm very disappointed with it. It should have been a red card. It was a desperately poor challenge."
O'Neill's sense of injustice was increased by what he believes was a glaring mistake by Webb to deny his side a 16th minute penalty after Gabriel Agbonlahor was brought down inside the penalty area by John Obi Mikel when the match was still scoreless.
The manager was adamant his side should have been awarded a penalty and that Mikel should have been sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.
To make matters worse from a Villa point of view, O'Neill insisted the incident was the second time his side had been the victims of a bad decision in a major match at Wembley this season.
In February, the manager claimed Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic should have been sent off when he conceded a penalty after bringing down Agbonlahor early in the League Cup final.
United went on to win that game, as did FA Cup holders Chelsea on this occasion with Carlo Ancelotti's side rallying through second half goals from Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda and Frank Lampard.
"I'm sitting here again about five weeks on and talking about major incidents in the game that affect the game," added a frustrated O'Neill.
"The penalty was clear cut, the Chelsea players knew it was a penalty. The referee has chosen to ignore it because of the possible consequences.
"It was a clear goal-scoring opportunity. It was a clear sending-off but we didn't even get the penalty.
"I accept there are decisions you don't agree with but there are incontestable decisions.
"The consequence of it all is in referees' minds. They should apply the law. That's all I'm looking for, a bit of fair play.
"Five weeks ago the referee bottled it completely. I don't know why he didn't make the decision. It's just maddening. Maybe we have just been desperately unlucky. They are game-changing decisions."
