Chelsea vs Liverpool match abandoned only after six minutes. Know why

In what comes as a bizarre turn of events, a Women’s Super League clash between Liverpool and Chelsea was abandoned after six minutes of play as the pitch was deemed unsafe to play on.

The embarrassing scenes were reported at the Kingsmeadow Stadium, the home ground of the Chelsea Women's and U-21 team. The pitch was wrapped in covers from the morning and an inspection at 9:30 AM haddeemed it unplayable.

Despite the conditions being less than ideal, the kickoff took place at the scheduled time.

However, soon enough, it became clear that the players could not play a competitive match in such conditions without injuring themselves.

Video clips of players slipping and struggling to stay upright on the pitch went viral after the match. One of the Chelsea players could be seen pulling their hamstring after tumbling.

Chelsea manager Emma Hayes was scathing in her assessment of the English FA and said the game should never have started whilst describing the pitch as being like an “ice rink”.

“You could see from the opening minutes that it was like an ice rink down the sides. It’s not for managers to decide if it’s on – it’s up to the FA and officials. The game should never have started."

"Everyone wanted to get the game on but when you have got emotions of teams wanting or not wanting to play, that’s when you need a decision from above. The FA weren’t here - they need to be making the decision.”

Similar sentiments were echoed by Hayes' Liverpool counterpart Matt Beard.

"It’s frustrating. I did say to the referee that we had to move our warm-up because it wasn’t safe.Someone could have got hurt today, especially with the history of ACL’s [injuries] this year."

The players also took to social media platforms to question the authorities and asked for better amenities for the women's game.

“Apologies to both sets of fans who travelled today. Players’ safety should always be the number one priority. Luckily no one was injured today and the right decision was taken eventually. Women’s football deserves better and we won’t stop fighting to make that happen,” tweeted forward Fran Kirby.

A WSL spokespersonin the aftermath of the cancellation said the fixture will be rescheduled in due course.

(With inputs from agencies)

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