Chelsea women’s Champions League match against Barcelona was brought to a grinding halt on Thursday night due to a power outage.
The score was level and Chelsea were building some momentum after the Catalan giants’ equaliser, when the match was brought to a sudden halt.
In near-freezing temperatures in west London, all the communication systems suddenly cut in the stadium, including VAR as well as the BBC and Disney+ live streams.
Viewers on BBC 2 and iPlayer were shown a blank screen and an error message reading: ‘We are sorry for the break in this programme and are trying to correct the fault.’
On Radio 5Live, former Chelsea star Fran Kirby bemoaned the technical issue for viewers, saying: ‘As a player it is a bit strange to see a game stopped because the cameras are not working.
‘Of course we want people to enjoy it and watch it from home but ultimately the players are on the pitch and you have to let the game go. The players won’t want to be standing around on a cold night like this.’
Chelsea were forced to bring play to a halt after a power outage at Stamford Bridge
The BBC had to apologise to viewers for pausing the Champions League action on Thursday
But with the referees also unable to communicate with VAR, there was no other choice but to pause the match in two-degree temperatures in Chelsea.
Both sets of players were forced to wait just over five minutes before the referees indicated that the systems were back up and running.
At which point, Barcelona managed to regain their footing and half-time arrived after nine minutes of added time.
Ellie Carpenter had given the Blues the lead with a wonderful solo effort before Ewa Pajor capitalised on some poor Chelsea defending to draw it level.
VAR was called into action for the first time after the outage as Chelsea chased down a winner, with Catarina Macario making an instant impact to score a header just moments after being brought onto the pitch.
After a lengthy delay however, VAR confirmed the on-pitch decision that the goal would not stand due to the American star being marginally offside.
