Danny Welbeck was widely accused of diving to win a penalty as he scored a brace in Arsenal's Europa League win over AC Milan - but manager Arsene Wenger refused to criticise the striker.
Leading 2-0 from the first leg in Italy, the Gunners were shaken by Hakan Calhanoglu's long-range strike but hit back to win 3-1 on the night and assure themselves of a spot in the quarter-finals with a comfortable 5-1 aggregate success.
Welbeck levelled with just his third goal in 26 games by winning and converting a dubious penalty after going down under minimal contact from Ricardo Rodriguez.
On the day he returned to the England squad, Welbeck was accused of a "blatant dive" by former Three Lions captains Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker.
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The decision was so soft, almost three-quarters of respondents to a poll sent out from the official Arsenal Twitter account said they would not have awarded the penalty.
Wenger, however, did not follow suit and said he would want to see the incident more clearly before making a decision over whether the former Manchester United man dived.
"I haven't seen it again," he said.
"Do you want to accuse English players of being divers?
"There's two things: was it a penalty or not? I don't know. The Italian players were unhappy with it. I can understand that, because I don't really know what it was.
"After that, Danny took the penalty in a convincing way, and I will watch it again and give my honest feeling about it.
"I will give him my honest feeling about it as well (if I view it as a dive), don't worry."
Arsenal's progression into the last eight was assured when Granit Xhaka's tame effort somehow beat Gianluigi Donnarumma in the Milan goal.
Welbeck then added a late third with a close-range header to secure an impressive result over their Serie A opponents.
"(Welbeck's) a striker, he has to do what he does," Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso said.
"We can't use that as a reference for English football. There's a great deal of fair play in England.
"When I was a player, I'd try to take advantage of individual situations, but I'm not going to judge these things.
"I don't want to talk about the referee (Jonas Eriksson). I don't want any alibi. In the same way Donnarumma made a mistake, as you can, a referee can make a mistake as well."
The likes of Atletico Madrid, Lazio, Sporting Lisbon and CSKA Moscow now await in Friday's quarter-final draw, with Wenger naming Atletico as favourites for the trophy.
"Maybe the biggest favourite is Atletico Madrid, but what I like doesn't matter too much because I have no influence (on the draw)," he added.
"We have to wait and see who we get. If we get Atletico Madrid, we get Atletico Madrid."
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match info
Chelsea 2
Willian (13'), Ross Barkley (64')
Liverpool 0
Biog
Mr Kandhari is legally authorised to conduct marriages in the gurdwara
He has officiated weddings of Sikhs and people of different faiths from Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Russia, the US and Canada
Father of two sons, grandfather of six
Plays golf once a week
Enjoys trying new holiday destinations with his wife and family
Walks for an hour every morning
Completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Loyola College, Chennai, India
2019 is a milestone because he completes 50 years in business
Brave CF 27 fight card
Welterweight:
Abdoul Abdouraguimov (champion, FRA) v Jarrah Al Selawe (JOR)
Lightweight:
Anas Siraj Mounir (TUN) v Alex Martinez (CAN)
Welterweight:
Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA) v Khamzat Chimaev (SWE)
Middleweight:
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Rustam Chsiev (RUS)
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) v Christofer Silva (BRA)
Super lightweight:
Alex Nacfur (BRA) v Dwight Brooks (USA)
Bantamweight:
Jalal Al Daaja (JOR) v Tariq Ismail (CAN)
Chris Corton (PHI) v Zia Mashwani (PAK)
Featherweight:
Sulaiman (KUW) v Abdullatip (RUS)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) v Mohammad Al Katib (JOR)
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The End of Loneliness
Benedict Wells
Translated from the German by Charlotte Collins
Sceptre
Country-size land deals
US interest in purchasing territory is not as outlandish as it sounds. Here's a look at some big land transactions between nations:
Louisiana Purchase
If Donald Trump is one who aims to broker "a deal of the century", then this was the "deal of the 19th Century". In 1803, the US nearly doubled in size when it bought 2,140,000 square kilometres from France for $15 million.
Florida Purchase Treaty
The US courted Spain for Florida for years. Spain eventually realised its burden in holding on to the territory and in 1819 effectively ceded it to America in a wider border treaty.
Alaska purchase
America's spending spree continued in 1867 when it acquired 1,518,800 km2 of Alaskan land from Russia for $7.2m. Critics panned the government for buying "useless land".
The Philippines
At the end of the Spanish-American War, a provision in the 1898 Treaty of Paris saw Spain surrender the Philippines for a payment of $20 million.
US Virgin Islands
It's not like a US president has never reached a deal with Denmark before. In 1917 the US purchased the Danish West Indies for $25m and renamed them the US Virgin Islands.
Gwadar
The most recent sovereign land purchase was in 1958 when Pakistan bought the southwestern port of Gwadar from Oman for 5.5bn Pakistan rupees.
