Antonio Conte bemoaned two key moments in Chelsea's FA Cup final defeat to Arsenal on Saturday, highlighting Alexis Sanchez's contact with the ball in the build-up to the opener and Victor Moses' sending off at Wembley.
Chelsea came into their London derby clash with the Gunners on a high after lifting the Premier League trophy just six days earlier, but were left stunned when Sanchez scored after just four minutes.
Aaron Ramsey was in an offside position as Thibaut Courtois ran out to claim the ball but the Arsenal midfielder left it for Sanchez, who appeared to then make contact with the ball before firing in the opener.
Things went from bad to worse for Chelsea when Moses later collected his second yellow card of the match for diving in the 68th minute and was duly sent off.
Under pressure from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the area, the 26-year-old went down and tried to appeal for a penalty but was instead given his marching orders by referee Anthony Taylor.
Conte felt Oxlade-Chamberlain had made contact with Moses, although he did not go as far as to say the Chelsea wing-back should have had a spot-kick, but did insist Sanchez's goal should not have stood.
The Italian said: "I think our start wasn't good enough. Arsenal started better than us. Honestly, the goal after three minutes in this way, it [should have been] disallowed because there was a clear handball but our start wasn't good for the first 20-25 minutes then we started to play.
"Honestly, the goal after three minutes in this way, it [should have been] disallowed because there was a clear handball but our start wasn't good for the first 20-25 minutes then we started to play.
"In the second half, we started well, the second yellow card was one of the two key moments. Despite this, we were able to equalise but then we conceded after a few minutes and that was key for our loss. It was difficult."
Read More
When asked specifically about Moses' red card, Conte said: "It's difficult to tell because I saw contact with Moses and the defenders but I don't know if there is contact for a penalty. The second yellow was key for this game, like the first goal.
"I don't know if my players had time to recover [from the first goal]. There is a clear handball and I don't understand why the referee didn't decide to blow his whistle. It can happen. The players make a mistake and the referee makes a mistake.
"I saw a lot of these decisions against us this season - [Manchester] United, Bournemouth - this is the same. I think we were unlucky."
