By ANDREW DILLON
GARY CAHILL last night blasted Corinthians star Emerson for falling down like a little girl.
The centre-back was shown a straight red for kicking out at the Brazilian in the 90th minute of Chelsea’s Club World Cup final defeat.
It means Cahill is banned for Wednesday’s Capital One Cup quarter-final at Leeds. And he was left sweating on a FIFA disciplinary hearing this week which could extend the ban.
Cahill said: “We tangled up, he lashed out with his arm and hit me in the face.
“That was out of order but I reacted in a bad way. But there’s two sides to it.
“I got smashed in the face but I didn’t roll around on the floor for five minutes holding my head. I got up, reacted and tapped him in the shin.
“The reaction of the guy is totally out of order for what I did, if you see the impact.
“It wouldn’t have been enough to knock over my one-year-old daughter. I’m still angry.
“He felt the need to go down, roll around on the floor for about five times holding his face. I suppose that’s the story of the game really.
“It was late on, it wasn’t as if it was in the 60th minute. I could have got him sent off if I’d rolled around for five minutes after he hit me.”
Cahill had not even been booked this season before yesterday’s match here in Yokohama.
Boss Rafa Benitez said: “It was the kind of situation with two players challenging for the ball and he lost his temper.
“I didn’t see it in the game but I’ve seen it on the replay and it could be a red card. They were very physical from the first minute, every challenge and second ball.
“It was harder once they scored, they were keeping the ball and passing it.
“But we had four very clear chances and the goalkeeper was man of the match, and to me that means a lot.”
Benitez played down reports that Brazilian winger Oscar had hit the roof at being dropped for yesterday’s showpiece.
The game is a huge occasion for South American players.
There were claims on Twitter that he had branded his boss ‘crazy’ for not starting him.
Benitez said: “Normally, with Twitter, Facebook, websites and bloggers, I don’t trust too many people. Any player not playing has to be disappointed, but that’s it.”
